I just finished reading a book that quite honestly, changed my life. Now, I don't mean changed my life in the happy happy joy joy kind of nonsense - it's a lot deeper than that. I'm not going to try and tell the story in my own words - I'm simply not capable of it. Also, I don't think I've read the book enough times. Nonetheless, it's a fucking fantastic read. Probably one of my favourite books, and that's saying quite a bit , coming as it is from a chap who wastes as much time on books as I do.
It's strange, how these things happen. The first time I caught sight of this book, I was on a bus heading to Kasauli for a holiday with a bunch of friends. One of the chaps who had gone with us had it with him, and I promptly whacked it from him for the journey, having forgotten to bring any batteries for my walkman (such is life). I only read a chapter or so, that time - and when we finally got off the bus, it turned out that Shantarams journey hadn't ended - he was headed back to Chandigarh, safely tucked into the carrying rack above my seat, out of harms way. Might still be there, for all I know.
But I digress.
The point of this post - in full defiance of the fact that this blog is called Rointless Pants (bit of the lackwards banguage there, it's hot all that nard) - is something that I read in the book, which I wanted to share with whoever has the patience to read this nonsense I spew out.
These two characters, Lin and Kader Khan, they're talking about God. That's something I've always been interested in, since I don't really believe in God (but yeah, I still capitalise the G. No sense in aggravating others sentiments, I suppose.)
The conversation goes something like this.
What is God?
In the begining, there was nothing. And then, the Universe came into being, with what's popularly known as the Big Bang (must have been fun, eh?) Anyway, with the Big Bang, presumably caused by the fact that everything that we know in the Universe was packed into a space which, technically, has no space (something like a local train in Bombay during rush hour), everything came into existence. At that point, everything was composed of the simplest possible structures - say the great great great grandaddies and grandmas of the simplest, simplest things we know today, smaller than atoms, smaller than quarks.
The Universe, from that point on, has been steadily moving onwards towards complexity - quarks clubbed together to form atoms, atoms to form elements, elements to form molecules, which formed the stars, and the planets, and so on. Life, as we know it, emerged when a single cell, which, by itself was a huge step up from the nothingness that the Big Bang hurled into existence, decided it felt a bit lonely. Voila, a mitotic (or meiotic) split! And then there were two...
This process has gone on and on since the first something went 'plop' in the primordial ooze. And it's given rise to civilisations and empires, races and tribes, markets and battlefields, and great works of literature and poetry and art and cooking - and all that's just on this planet.
Presumably this process is going on somewhere else also. It's almost inevitable, given the sheer size of the Universe (that we know about), and the different structures that can be formed. Life is a bitch, perhaps, but a tenacious bitch, for all that.
So, the Universe is moving towards a greater complexity, with each instant of its existence. This greater complexity, or rather, the greatest possible complexity, is what God is all about.
This is where the book trails off, and when people who read it start thinking.
It's a good philosophy - it brings together the grandeur of something we could call God, and conveniently leaves out all the rest of the relisgious psychobabble that marks where God left off and Religion took over. But here's another thought.
Suppose, at some distant point in the future, some living organism perfects time travel, or a universal theory of everything. That means, that theoretically, at least, they could know everything that happened at every point in time, or at least the important changes in the web of existence, which led to the point where they are. Perhaps even nudge the web to the appropriate junctions leading to them? Miracles, even?
Okay, and another one.
Suppose this Ultimate Complexity is like the Ultimate Molecule, it's components are everything in existence, combined in such mindboggling ways that defy present imagination, let alone comprehension. And when the universal clock of entropy finally runs out, and there's no energy left in the universe, that Ultimate molecule finally has no mass, and therefore, requires no space. At that point, perhaps the slightest bit of energy would cause it to explode - since everything that that energy touches suddenly has mass, and finds itself expanding with nowhere to go.
Boom.
I realise, of course, that none of what I've said is backed up with the slightest shred of evidence, and moreover, it's a really crude argument (Pratchett was write - it's hard to communicate a deep thought in a language first evolved to let the other monkeys know where the ripe fruit was), but I hope you'll bear with me. It's been fun.
It's strange, how these things happen. The first time I caught sight of this book, I was on a bus heading to Kasauli for a holiday with a bunch of friends. One of the chaps who had gone with us had it with him, and I promptly whacked it from him for the journey, having forgotten to bring any batteries for my walkman (such is life). I only read a chapter or so, that time - and when we finally got off the bus, it turned out that Shantarams journey hadn't ended - he was headed back to Chandigarh, safely tucked into the carrying rack above my seat, out of harms way. Might still be there, for all I know.
But I digress.
The point of this post - in full defiance of the fact that this blog is called Rointless Pants (bit of the lackwards banguage there, it's hot all that nard) - is something that I read in the book, which I wanted to share with whoever has the patience to read this nonsense I spew out.
These two characters, Lin and Kader Khan, they're talking about God. That's something I've always been interested in, since I don't really believe in God (but yeah, I still capitalise the G. No sense in aggravating others sentiments, I suppose.)
The conversation goes something like this.
What is God?
In the begining, there was nothing. And then, the Universe came into being, with what's popularly known as the Big Bang (must have been fun, eh?) Anyway, with the Big Bang, presumably caused by the fact that everything that we know in the Universe was packed into a space which, technically, has no space (something like a local train in Bombay during rush hour), everything came into existence. At that point, everything was composed of the simplest possible structures - say the great great great grandaddies and grandmas of the simplest, simplest things we know today, smaller than atoms, smaller than quarks.
The Universe, from that point on, has been steadily moving onwards towards complexity - quarks clubbed together to form atoms, atoms to form elements, elements to form molecules, which formed the stars, and the planets, and so on. Life, as we know it, emerged when a single cell, which, by itself was a huge step up from the nothingness that the Big Bang hurled into existence, decided it felt a bit lonely. Voila, a mitotic (or meiotic) split! And then there were two...
This process has gone on and on since the first something went 'plop' in the primordial ooze. And it's given rise to civilisations and empires, races and tribes, markets and battlefields, and great works of literature and poetry and art and cooking - and all that's just on this planet.
Presumably this process is going on somewhere else also. It's almost inevitable, given the sheer size of the Universe (that we know about), and the different structures that can be formed. Life is a bitch, perhaps, but a tenacious bitch, for all that.
So, the Universe is moving towards a greater complexity, with each instant of its existence. This greater complexity, or rather, the greatest possible complexity, is what God is all about.
This is where the book trails off, and when people who read it start thinking.
It's a good philosophy - it brings together the grandeur of something we could call God, and conveniently leaves out all the rest of the relisgious psychobabble that marks where God left off and Religion took over. But here's another thought.
Suppose, at some distant point in the future, some living organism perfects time travel, or a universal theory of everything. That means, that theoretically, at least, they could know everything that happened at every point in time, or at least the important changes in the web of existence, which led to the point where they are. Perhaps even nudge the web to the appropriate junctions leading to them? Miracles, even?
Okay, and another one.
Suppose this Ultimate Complexity is like the Ultimate Molecule, it's components are everything in existence, combined in such mindboggling ways that defy present imagination, let alone comprehension. And when the universal clock of entropy finally runs out, and there's no energy left in the universe, that Ultimate molecule finally has no mass, and therefore, requires no space. At that point, perhaps the slightest bit of energy would cause it to explode - since everything that that energy touches suddenly has mass, and finds itself expanding with nowhere to go.
Boom.
I realise, of course, that none of what I've said is backed up with the slightest shred of evidence, and moreover, it's a really crude argument (Pratchett was write - it's hard to communicate a deep thought in a language first evolved to let the other monkeys know where the ripe fruit was), but I hope you'll bear with me. It's been fun.
3 comments:
Fabuloous!
I havent read it, but a book that could change the life of a cynic like you must be worth a read.
How was Kasauli?
'the world looks just the same
and history ain't changed
the banners they're all flown in the next war
the parting on the left
is now parting on the right
and the beards have all grown longer overnight'
the who, won't get fooled again
kria: yeah, it's an amazing book. i've never had such an unrelenting urge to know what happens next that i read a thousand pages in one night...fucking brilliant.
swami: i'm sure the egyptians and babylonians and harappans (although they got fucked) felt the same way. slow changes man, like the continents doing ballet.
it's like the mayflies - a lifespan of 24 hours really doesnt give you much time to understand deeper patterns...although, since we estimate everything along our own lifespans...hmm...i wonder.
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