“Space the last Frontier” is a familiar phrase made popular in the TV series Star Trek. However, reality may be that more frontiers may be available such as renewable or extended lives and different space dimensions just to name a couple. I will elaborate on my ideas later on.
Since the dawn of mankind, humans have been fascinated with the study of space. Stars were and continue to be used as bearing points for navigational purposes, while
the layouts of stars provided constellations like Ursa Major (Great Bear), Orion, Big Dipper and many others.
While mankind has been flying since the beginning of the 20th Century, space exploration began with the launch of the Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. Since then, CCCP and USA have been rivals and competing with each other in
exploring space. In July 1969 the USA made the first successful landing of a human being on an orbital object beyond Earth, our very own moon, approximately 250,000 miles (402,336 kms.) from Earth. Apollo 11 made the mission possible and Neil Armstrong was the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969 and his first words upon placing one foot on the moon were “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. The Apollo project ended with the 6th landing on the moon with Apollo 17in December 1972. Space exploration then turned to more practical aspects
concentrating on learning more about space travel and human adaptation to travelling in space, coping with such things as weightlessness and long-term effects of remaining in space. For this challenge, the Space Shuttle program was conceived and operated between April 1981 and July 2011, which included a total of 135 missions that were launched. Notwithstanding the dangers involved with space travel, especially where manned space crafts are concerned, there were only 2 disasters out of the 135 missions – the 1st on January 28, 1986 Challenger disintegrated 73
seconds after launch killing all 7 astronauts on board, and the 2nd on February
1, 2003 Columbia disintegrated during re-entry killing all 7 astronauts also on board. A major achievement of the Space Shuttle missions was to enable construction of the international Space Station. This major space project involved the participation USA, CCCP and Russia and other international partners. This project also encouraged international scientific and technological cooperation. Since the cancelation of the Space Shuttle program in July 2011 Russia’s Soyuz programme has continued to shuttle Russian, Americans, Canadians and other international scientists and
technicians to and from the International Space Station which is located some 407 perigee/422 apogee kms above the Earth.
In summary, mankind’s space travel adventure has been infinitesimally small compared to the size of the observable universe. Even our Milky Way galaxy with its 100-400 billion stars is still a speck in relation to the estimated 100 billion galaxies
that make up our universe. Space observatories and telescopes including the Hubble Space Telescope have greatly augmented our knowledge of space. As for unmanned space crafts, COBE, WMAP and recently PLANK have provided remarkable details and microwave mapping of the origins of our current universe some 370,000 years after the BIG BANG erupted. The research further re-affirmed calculations that the BIG BANG that originated some 13.8 billion years ago, as recently confirmed by the PLANK space probe. This was a slight adjustment from the previous figure of 13.7
billion years previously estimated.
The best estimate of the age of the universe as of 2013 is 13.798 ± 0.037 billion years[2] but due to the expansion of space humans are observing objects that were originally much closer but are now considerably farther away (as defined in terms of cosmological proper distance, which is equal to the comoving distance at the present time) than a static 13.8 billion light-years distance.[3] The diameter of the observable universe is estimated at about 28 billion parsecs (93 billion light-years),[4] putting the edge of the observable universe at about 46–47 billion light-years away. (source Wikipedia).
I believe that, based on current scientific measurements, a radius 46 or 47 billion light-years of the observable universe, 13.8 billion years since the BIG BANG occurred, this indicates that the current cycle is relatively young in its expansion process,
hence accounts in my analysis why it continues to expand possibly at an accelerated rate. I also suspect that it may continue to expand at an accelerated rated for many more billions of years. Also, the observable matter located at 46 or 47 billion light-years away is possibly remnants or left-over of matter from previous BIG BANG cycles that gravity was too weak or not successful in retracting the matter back to what I call the BIG CRUNCH. This would mean an everlasting or recurring BIG BANG/BIG CRUNCH cycles. My hypothesis also supports that if nothing exceeds the speed of light, then observable matter that is 46 or 47 billion light-years away would have taken many more years than 13.8 billion years to travel this far, or simply that matter would have travelled at a speed of 3.4 times the speed of light to arrive at this distance, which I believe is highly unlikely. I conclude my hypothesis that there is a strong possibility that BIG BANG/BIG CRUNCH cycles do exist on a recurring basis as an integral operation of our universe. Some physicists do hypothesize in multi universes and bubble universes, while others conjecture that our universe is draining to a nearby universe. These are all theories, however I do not have information to support or deny them. Understandably, when physicists describe the universe, it always seems elaborated based on our own perspective or views, not from the vantage point of the rest of our or other universes. Is this a fair description? Only time will tell, maybe.
TIME
Based on an ever ending BIG BANG/BIG CRUNCH cycles, it is then possible that time itself may be endless, or to put it simply, may not have any beginning or ending. In this case, time would have no practical purpose and would simply be a
man-made invention. In conclusion, time would have been created to serve the benefits of mankind to account for cyclic or recurring events, scheduling and for other control purposes. In comparison, animals have instinctive awareness of periodic, seasonal and cyclic changes without the need to rely on time pieces or calendars as we humans do. Albert Einstein conjectured that space and time were inter-related. Since time is indispensable to human beings, it then seems normal that time would play a major role in the existence and expansion of the universe, mainly for understanding, measurement and control purposes. However, from the perspective of an infinite creator, there would be no need for a time measurement. Aside from time, there are other man-made dimensions that have been developed to harmonize and understand better the laws of nature as I will elaborate on them later on.
INFINITE CREATOR
Limitless space and everlasting expansion/retraction cycles of the universe and
non-existence of time, is this all possible? Who or what created all of this and is responsible for all of this infinite or timeless process? Throughout the ages there has been much speculation as to the meaning and purpose of an infinite omnipotent and omniscient creator, otherwise known as GOD. Early civilizations created gods for various aspect of nature. More recently, philosophers like Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein had similar views on pantheism, where GOD is not a personal or anthropomorphic god. In summary, GOD’s plan is not for the benefit of man. This obviously seems quite harsh and certainly not the merciful, caring and the love we would expect from GOD, based on our very limited comprehension and perspective.
I will now express my views on GOD’s possible actions, purpose and master plan. I believe that the universe, whether as a single entity or many, in one form or many, all
forms part of GOD. All atoms, sub-atomic particles, living cells whether human, animal or plant life on this planet and throughout space were all created by and intrinsic to GOD. In summary, everything in this universe, and all others that may exist, all form part of the one and only GOD, a pure and everlasting spirit, the Infinite, omnipotent and omniscient Creator. As a pure and infinite spirit GOD does not possess a gender and cannot be referred to as HE, SHE or IT.
GOD created all the laws of nature and these should be consistent throughout this and all other universes that may exist. The laws of nature would include primarily physics, chemistry and biology. Disciplines like mathematics, medicine, philosophy
including religion were invented by mankind in an effort to understand and harmonize with the Creator’s laws of nature. As such, problems and situations do occur when GOD’s laws are not adhered to or abided by. Animals and humans are born, live a lifetime, acquire knowledge and develop skills, conscience, attitude, aspirations,
sympathy, empathy, love, hate, feelings, emotions, procreate sibblings etc. then die. The deceased’s “conscious” spirit that is the soul and accumulated knowledge, skills, conscience is then transferred to a newborn. This transfer of our spirit is probably performed by GOD to other human beings selected by the Creator. I am also inclined to believe that the “unconscious” spirit is not transferred to the newborn, which accounts for the reason that we do not remember or have a recollection of anything that occurred in our past lives. For this reason, some people may seem to be
“naturally” smarter than others or possess affinity in certain skills etc. due to the accumulated knowledge the spirit gathered in previous lifetimes, yet we may not be aware of this since we do not know who we were in the previous lives. I am also inclined to believe that this process may contribute to the continuous progress that is being made by mankind, and why animal species do constantly change, become extinct and improve as well. The same applies to plant life where science is beginning
to understand the cognitive and interactive process.
I would like to add a note here to explain why I believe the unconscious mind is not transferred to a newborn’s life. If the unconscious mind were transferred to a newborn, simply imagine the moral and other conflicts in rationalizing that one’s
parents in previous lives were either better or worse than the current set of parents, or that one’s husbands or wives in previous lives were better or worse than the current ones. I can certainly understand and appreciate GOD’s logic in not transferring memories of previous lives to subsequent lives.
This means that a person’s lifetime is just one of many lifetimes that the human
spirit will evolve in each with different set of parents, intimate partners, environmental changes and different lifestyles until we achieve the desired level of “spirituality” that GOD’s wants us to achieve. This process in human terms may require an eon number of years to achieve. Also, the human species will, like other species, conceivably evolve into other more advanced species. As long as we follow or obey GOD’s laws of nature there is no problem. Problems do occur when we deviate from the established laws of nature. In this fashion someone’s death is merely transitional passage to another life, where our spirit is given another opportunity to improve ourself and serve others around us that we care for and provide support to. As such, while GOD may at times appear not to care during our moments of problems and woes, yet we are given many chances to improve in the present and subsequent lives for ourselves and for others in our environment. GOD is indeed merciful and gives us many chances with many succeeding lifetimes. GOD also keeps count of our good and bad deeds throughout all our many lifetimes. GOD is a pure and infinite spirit and cares for our spirit which is created in the Creator’s image. The physical aspect of our lives is merely to be used as a functional tool for us to operate and adapt to the physical environment that GOD has created for all living organisms to evolve and improve in.
As humanoids, the various versions that have evolved and progressed over the last 4 or 5 million years have been quite remarkable and certainly staggering. We have probably far outpaced any other species on this planet in such a short time span. Our species will most likely continue to evolve with larger brains and more capacity for advancement, assuming that our emotions do not overtake our reasoning capabilities and we self-destruct first. One significant progress that will come out of his evolutionary process is a better balance between our cognitive abilities and our emotions. Our current mix of these attributes has served us well to develop new
scientific, technological and social advancements until now, however the mix has all too often created bad cocktails and resulted in too many wars and personal conflicts. As we evolve as a species, hopefully the balance will stabilize and accentuate the progressive aspects, while diminishing the negative preponderance of our emotions in our thinking process. Eventually, a few million years in the future I foresee our evolved species populating and socializing to other planets in the Solar system as well as planetary systems in nearby stars. Along with this evolutionary process I foresee our species communicating, interchanging knowledge, commodities, socializing and even integrating with advanced life forms that inhabit and travel from planetary systems from nearby stars.
In the long term, or many millions of years from now, I foresee a normal evolutionary process of our species that will make way to more cerebral and telepathic communications. Negative emotions like jealousy, greed, ambition will be greatly lessened and almost eradicated, and our energies will be converted to more compassionate and interactive activities between ourselves and other species in this planet as well as other planets that we will inhabit and socialize with. Learning from advanced life forms from other planetary systems, and sharing with them, will also
create exponential growth that all species will benefit from. As a footnote - our Sun is estimated to swell and become a Red Giant in more than 5 billion years from now, and it then seems obvious that normal evolution of species on Earth will create far more advanced living species that will inhabit and prosper on this planet and expatriate to other planetary systems. Ultimately, I believe that the evolutionary process will steer all advanced life forms towards spiritual attributes and nature,
while leading towards the goal and purpose that GOD has created and set in
motion so that we can all share together for eternity.
As previously indicated, once we have reached the desired high level of spirituality that meets GOD’s expectation, our final spirit will then permitted to join the CREATOR in paradise for eternity. I would like to conclude this article, with a couple famous quotes from Albert Einstein, which I believe are quite appropriate. “I want to know GOD’s thoughts, the rest is details.” And,”At any rate, I do not believe that GOD plays dice with the universe”.