Georges Lemaître, a decorated Belgian artillery officer, physicist, mathematician, and ordained priest, 1931 first proposed the idea of expanding universe, if time traveled in reverse, would have its beginnings in a primeval atom or cosmic egg (subsequently known as Big Bang model). At the time, his theory didn’t find an adoring reception. Even Einstein responded, “Your math is correct; your physics abominable.” By 1933, however, the tide shifted, and the Big Bang model was generally accepted and demonstrably confirmed with the detection of cosmic background radiation in 1966. In lending the universe a defined beginning, he connected the dots between physics and spirituality.
Fr. Georges Lemaître and Albert Einstein
The James Webb telescope, a million miles from Earth, is peering into the mysteries of the universe. The Webb vision can almost peek at the moment of inception nearly 14 billion years back. The improbable cosmic existence is being solved right in front of our eyes. The expansion of the “primeval atom” into an incomprehensibly massive universe with its galaxies, stars, and planets is an incredible miracle of incomprehensibly small probabilities. The next unlikely miracle is the transition of inert matter into life. The miracle of miracles is the evolution of life into an anthropic visage endowed with sentience. From the Cosmic egg to the emergence of life to its anthropic coronation, life is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma (Winston Churchill). It’s incredible, albeit a fleeting blessing, to be alive, aware, and anthropic.
Carina Nebula Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
It’s the human part we need to work more at.
The dawn of every new year is an inviting time of the calendar to do the inventory and recalibrate.
Hence the urge to make resolutions for a new year is on the surge again. New year’s eve tends to awaken that unending quest to contour a better iteration of me. It’s a shared feeling among humans and one of the more laudable ones. If the past is a prelude, the new resolutions, thoughtfully marinated in reinforced commitment, will meet the familiar fate of the ocean wave hitting the beach rocks head-on and peaceful retreat after an ephemeral spectacle of eye-catching froth: Froth springs eternal, one wave at a time. Past failures can also nudge a person towards the possible.
If I may contradict myself, these are the promises I would like to keep, and so help me, God.
I will like to linger at the moment and stop carving the moment next. The proverbial roses should get more than a glancing tribute of a peripheral vision.
The wick is getting short, so I will like to burn the candle on one end at a time. I will like to place haste in the parking gear and view the vistas as I put time on pause.
I will like to listen and not interrupt. I will like to learn and not preach.
I will like to take insults without being insulted.
I will like to be kind irrespective of the occasion or provocations.
I will like to make memories that don’t disgust or haunt me. I want to make memories that gently part lips into a smile and lend a rhythm to the unsteady steps.
I will like to give political correctness an infinite timeout in a corner marked irreverence.
I will like to reiterate that work ethic and perseverance are the meritocratic tools that lend success draped in happiness in non-disabled humans.
The disabled and infirm deserve our care, compassion, and love and will receive it.
Above all, I know the thing called love that stitches our lives with golden links, and I want to work to improve upon it.
Let your and my resolutions have durability.
Cheers!
Don’t let the bubbly meet the fate of the dying effervescence of the retreating waves.
Excellent thoughts ! Love it