Friday, February 15

Reincarnation & String Theory

So someone in one of my forums brought up reincarnation. I know people who believe in this, but to me it seems a very complex explanation for something very simple. On the other hand, I think string theory is an elegant description of the world, and it's damnably complex.

I could argue that the concept of reincarnation is tied to string theory. This branch of physics postulates that all matter AND all energy consists of immeasurably tiny, vibrating strings. The only difference between them is the way they vibrate. That connects with me because it speaks to something I understand on every level. OK, I'm going to geek out here. The quote is from Babylon 5:
"I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time. The molecules that make up your body are the same as the molecules that make up this station, and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are star stuff. We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective."

And it's true. Quantum physics also indicates that every tiniest particle of matter or energy, in its eternal dance, affects every other particle of matter or energy. One of the strangest principals of quantum physics is demonstrated by one of the simplest tests: if you observe light as it's directed at a kind of screen, the experiment shows that light is composed of particles. Quanta. If you perform the experiment again, but don't watch it as it runs, the results show waves. So the observer really does change the observed at a basic level.

So here's how this might work from a druidic perspective:
All things are interconnected. All things affect and are affected by all other things. Since this is the case, nothing new is created, nothing old is destroyed. All that is, has always been. The perception of time is a story we tell ourselves to make sense of the differences between things: then and now are simply positions from which we view existence.

It interests me that there is an emphasis in Druidry on sounds, because there is a satisfying connection here: perhaps reincarnation, ascendancy, or the achievement of Nirvana are all stories we tell ourselves to describe a distinct change in the vibration of certain strings.

Perhaps all we are really doing, as we die, is changing our song.

1 comment:

Ál said...

Hiyah there

I really like your post on the OBOD board,it gives me several our of inner toughts.

Nice to find your blog