Sharing an interesting article - Cyclic theory makes cosmic "splash"

[Guest guest]

Hello: EveryOne!

 

I was somewhat excited to see this newspaper article this weekend. It

discusses what science is presently looking at from the stand point

of debated the creation theories.

 

I thought it was interesting that this new chain of thought has

arisen in the science community that possibly there is no beginning

to time as we know it and it maybe possible that time is not linear

as assumed in theory. These two thoughts having alot to do in the

understanding for those of us who are involved with the teachings of

Hinduism and Buddhism - i.e.. Reincarnation, Karma, Dependent

Origination and Brahman/Shakti/Maya.

 

Though not named directly these descriptions of the samsaric or saha

world are now being looked at in the science community as it

continues to arrive at a theory to describe how life originated.

Anyway since I am not a science person, but saw it significant that a

focus away from a "big bang" theory and moving more towards a cyclic

and continuous existence experience being the theory now

investigated; that now scriptures and the path we practice; are

coming more into the reality we share with all people regardless of

religion. It is not just a Hindu or Buddhist thing to see "existence"

as eternal and larger than what we see with our eyes and minds

presently.

 

The article follows my note here; please excuse the format since I

scanned it to include here from its column type newspaper form.

 

with palms together

Yeshe

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Cyclic theory makes cosmic "splash"

By Edie Lau

Scripps Howard News Service

 

If the universe was created

by a big bang — the prevailing

view of science — what hap-

pened before that? And how

will it all end?

 

These nagging questions are

not addressed by the big-bang

theory, but now there's a

model of the universe that of-

fers an answer. It goes like

this: The universe expands

and pauses, expands and

pauses endlessly, so that time

neither begins nor ends.

 

"It gets rid of the problem of

explaining a creation.... The

universe has been around for-

ever," said Paul Steinhardt, a

Princeton University

astrophysicist who, with Neil

Turok at Cambridge Universi-

ty, proposed a cyclic universe

model in a paper published

online Friday by the journal

Science.

 

Using exotic concepts in

modern physics, the ambi-

tious model liberally re-

arranges certain ideas in big-

bang theory. One implication

is that the bang wasn't all that

big. The cyclic model says, for

example, that galaxies formed

out of forces that existed

before the bang.

 

For a culture such as ours,

which marks history by linear

time — past, present and fu-

ture — the idea of timeless

time is mind-bending.

 

But as Steinhardt noted,

other cultures, notably the an-

cient Hindus, saw the uni-

verse as cyclic.

 

Western astrophysicists in

the 1930s put forth similar

"oscillatory" models of the

 

~

"It gets rid of the

problem of explaining a

creation.... The

universe has been

around forever."

— Paul Steinhardt,

Princeton University

astrophysicist

~

 

universe. The model de-

scribed Friday recycles some

old ideas and incorporates

new concepts, including the

notion of the universe having

extra dimensions.

 

"I think it will make a

splash," said Daniel Cebra, an

experimental physicist at the

University of California-Davis

involved in a project

reconstructing the first mo-

ments after the presumed big

bang. "Steinhardt is a big

name in this field, so what he

says people listen to pretty

seriously."

 

Andreas Albrecht, a UC

Davis cosmologist, said the

idea needs more develop-

ment, but called it "very stim-

ulating and fun."

Stimulating more thinking

on the fundamental form of

the universe was the reason

Steinhardt began scouting for

a new model.

 

In earlier years, Steinhardi

developed a piece of the

standard model of the uni-

verse known as inflation. In-

flation theory says that a pe-

riod of extremely fast expan-

sion followed the cosmic

boom that gave rise to the

universe. Inflation then gave

way to more sedate growth,

the era we're thought to be in

today.

 

Edie Lau is a reporter for the

Sacramento Bee.

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