On the Science and Mythology of the Cosmos

About a week ago I met a freelance cosmologer at a party. He had wild ideas about the life cycle of the universe. He sent me a draft of a chapter of a book he is writing, entitled "Cosmic Recycling Theory". I can't possibly synopsize it for you, and it's not necessary. I just wanted to record my response to him in an email I sent yesterday -- I've only edited it slightly:

I just finished your paper. It is very exciting. I had to skip the math, which was hieroglyphics to me. But the story of the world that you tell is a refreshing alternative. I'd love to talk to you about it more. Here are a few points:
1. Your introduction talks about the relationship of modern scientific cosmology to spiritual/mythological visions of the world and its "creation". As you may be aware of, the Dalai Lama is very interested in the discoveries of science, and he has basically said that they must be accepted. He remains a dualist, however, and so feels that scientists are only learning about one level of reality. The rest of them can only be known through meditation. So he reserves a playground for his pursuits that scientists can't get to.
   
   
2. The world view that we did not discuss in talking about spiritual traditions was the Ptolemaic/Aristotelian cosmology, which is indeed an eternal order subject to occasional disturbances. However they would not accept disturbances as great and destructive as black hole collisions!
   
   
3. Even in the context of an eternal physical universe, stories that discuss the "creation" of the world still may not be dismissed. Most of these stories are trying to conduct reconnaisance on the primal laws of the natural and moral universe, and "the beginning of time" becomes a metaphor for the primordial, archetypal structures that are at the heart of this universe. In other words, priority in time is only a metaphor for priority in being.
   
   
4. Your ideas about Jupiter are uncannily close to the climax of 2010, where Jupiter becomes a new star. Had you thought of that? Interesting that Jupiter is the king of heaven in greco-roman mythology -- could they have been intuiting its special status?
   
   
5. The ideas of consuming and ejection run through your cosmology. Here too there are Greek parralels. Prior to the Olympian age, there were tremendously destructive wars between the gods, gods eating their children, gods coming out of other gods (Athena from Zeus' forehead, for instance), and so on. Could they have been intuiting the fact that the present solar order had tumultuous roots?
   
   
6. The whole idea of the Sun being powered by a tiny black hole is still making chills go up and down my spine. I feel that spiritually speaking my own life is powered by a small black hole, namely depression. At times it obviously is draining and depleting, but over time I have come to see it as a source of spiritual conflict that really fuels me. It gives me an edge I wouldn't otherwise have, in other words.
   
   Less personally, this idea totally explodes all of the symbolism associated with the sun from Homer to Newton. The sun in these systems is always a source of order, a pure radiance, etc.. Now there is something dark and cold at its very heart. This new sun is very compelling, and very modern. Is the world ready for it?
   
   
7. I'd like to talk to you more in depth about the relationship between cosmology, mythology, and psychology. In particular I'd like to introduce you to the ideas of Moses Maimonides.
   
   
8. Methodologically speaking, I noticed that many of the predictions your theories would produce can only be tested by experiments that are very difficult to implement. Do you run the risk of creating a virtually untestable theory? For your colleagues, this might seem a flaw. But I'm convinced that the only true theory will be the one that is absolutely untestable, because it will have precisely grasped the singularities, which never appear. So, paradoxically, I see this as a virtue of your theory.
   
   I do not mean to neglect or downplay the fact that your theory more plausibly explains many of the known phenomena than heretofore, and often with a very satisfying elegance. These are also great virtues.
   
   
9. Your argument that your universe is more benevolent than a big bang universe, because it makes it more likely that life on other planets has occurred, is completely weak and bogus. I can say this directly now that you know how much I admire your thought in general. We are just as much alone now as we ever were if these alien civilisations have come and gone before us. And, anyhow, the probability of current life on other planets must be damned close to 100%, with or without a Big Bang. But we don't know these aliens, and so we're still alone.
   
   Looking past our brothers and sisters on this planet as sources of consolation and connection, we keep dreaming of a fellowship with alien races. All too human.
   
   
10. I still think you have to face the "creepy" repetitions that an eternal and yet historical universe makes possible. This is comforting to you because it gives you a false sense of eternity. You have existed before and you will exist again. But every possible counterfeit for you has also existed and will exist again. Face it, it's creepy. If you want to see what a nightmare this really is, read Borges' story "The Library of Babel". Actually, I'll try to mail it to you if I can.


Anyway, thanks for sharing this with me. This project deserves all of the attention you can lavish on it.

Just in case you're curious, here's some of my writing:
The Embassy, a strange tale: http://www.geocities.com/kjohnson3253
Dreams of a work, miniatures in literary criticisim:
http://dreamsofawork.blogspot.com
Enjoy!

-Kevin R. Johnson, M.A.
Gifted Unlimited
http://pages.prodigy.net/kjohnson

On Taoism and Protestantism

Several years ago, serendipity brought me to a day at a conference entitled "Taoism and the Ecology." Mostly the presenters were stuffy academics, but a few presenters were actually Taoist practitioners.

One of the most controversial presentations was by a man who goes by the name of "Liu Ming", which means "older brother." He is an american born practitioner of what he calls "orthodox Taoism". He has a topknot and wears a robe. His stance was that there is no environmental crisis, and that even if humanity's survival were at stake, there would be no environmental crisis. The environmental crisis, he said, was a scientific version of the apocalypse, and using blue recycling boxes was the modern way of avoiding damnation. Protestantism, he said, had simply found another vocabulary to express the same distorted message: there's something wrong, and we must make tremendous efforts to fix it. Typically, Westerners turn to exotic "other cultures" for the solutions to problems that they have invented, and patronize and misunderstand these cultures in the process. This guy was cool.

Somebody asked him why he had come to the conference in the first place, if he didn't see a relationship between Taoism and the ecology. Free planefare, he said. He had needed to come to these parts to perform a ceremony over the grave of his parents.

This is where things get disturbing. He had come to Massachusetts so that he could go to the grave of his birth parents and perform a ceremony completely renouncing them as his parents. His teachers were his adoptive parents now. That is how much he wanted to distance himself from Protestantism and firmly ensconce his identity as a Taoist.

Taoism, to my mind, indicates an effortless comfort with one's self and one's world. It seemed odd to me that in the name of Taoism he would be inclined to come such a distance simply in order to reject a valid part of his history and cultural heritage.

This has been a sore spot between me and Liu Ming since that time. Although we haven't spoken since, I read with pleasure Frost Bell, the newsletter of his organization Orthodox Taoism in America., and I've written him two letters that were designed to address this sore spot somehow. Here is the text of the second letter, dated 07.25.01.

Dear Liu-Ming,
You always seem to oppose your own views with "Protestantism". What do you mean by Protestantism? What do you see as its cosmology? Can you elaborate on your view that the New Age movement is "warmed over Protestantism with occult garnishes?"

I am being influenced by a variety of different spiritual traditions, including Taoism. I come from a Protestant background. Whatever spiritual dish I am eating, I try to make sure that it is truly to my taste, that it recalibrates my chi, and that I fully digest it. I know that many times I distort the true teachings of these traditions and fit them in with my early religious training, where indeed I was looking for a spiritual regiment to fix my "wrongness" so that I could experience a strong and grandiose "salvation." I assume that this is the paradigm that you object to. But I have managed to obtain occasional glimmers of self-acceptance, and to connect with the authentic voice of these Eastern influences.

Respect for the "other" demands a deep listening. One cannot allow an overwhelming lust for wisdom to cause an invasive and possessing rape of another tradition. Spiritual influence requires a careful alchemy to ensure proper interactions between two elements that allow each of their natures to be enhanced and calibrated. Frost Bell and Orthodox Taoism in America seem to be devoted to this discipline. I'm glad I know of you.

Sincerely,
Kevin

I doubt if he'll write back. Taoism suggests non-action in most circumstances.