1/10,000th of a Second!

1/10,000 of a second 

When I visited Jan at Happening Here I found this great video of a wombat that is a flash animation of the world and how "we have to get along" with all our neighbors. I went to the website this was from Global Mind Shift and found the link to the above little animated video about time. Since I've been teaching Sunday School lessons about God, cosmos, and evolution again, this quickie trip through time really hit me. So go up and click on the clock and you can see it, too!

And if you go and explore the website, you'll find many more little videos under the category of Memes.

Universe

". . . God, who can wait for fourteen billion years and can allow this universe to unfold on its own as if it were separate from God!"

Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, 98.

Artist's view of star formation in the early universe. By Adolf Schaller. Source: NASA.

Prayer connections (or spins)

The book I am reading (more than others) lately is The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition (Plus) by Huston Smith. Today I read about aspects of energy, which I grasped only an inkling of in the cosmology books I read, compared to how prayer "works." I find this beautiful and logical to me, in my oddly illogical mind and heart.

"The most important scientific discovery of all time--anticipated by Einstein, worked out in Bell's Theorem, and experimentally confirmed by the EPR (Einstein-Podosky-Rosen) experiment--proves that the universe is 'non-local.'

"Described in everyday language, the story is this: Particles have spins. In paired particles, when one particle spins downward the other spins upward. Now, separate the two--distance is irrelevant; it can be an inch or to the edge of the universe--and when one particle goes into a downspin, simultaneously the other spins upward. For prayer, nonlocality suggests that the person praying and the person being prayed for are closer than side by side. Distance doesn't apply--they are in the same spaceless mathematical point. When the pray-er plunges deep down into his praying self, his prayer spins downward, so to speak, and spins its recipient upward. When Jesus prayed all night, and during the day, he was 'spun upward' by placing himself in the presence of his Father who so loved the world that he 'spun down'--into his Incarnation, Jesus--and transformed him." (58, 59)

"The Galaxy Song" by Monty Python

For a rousing song about our insignificance in this amazing universe, listen to Monty Python's song "The Galaxy Song" and watch NASA photography, go HERE.

Thank you Les Engrages.org.

NASA Image of the Day Gallery

Two galaxies perform an intricate dance in this new Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxies, containing a vast number of stars, swing past each other in a graceful performance choreographed by gravity. The pair, known collectively as Arp 87, is one of hundreds of interacting and merging galaxies known in our nearby universe. Arp 87 was originally cataloged by astronomer Halton Arp in the mid 1960s.

HOT in Texas!

I felt sweat dripping down my face when I hung sheets out on the clothesline. It is how I anticipate feeling when I watch daughter MJ's soccer game at 2 o'clock, which will last for about two hours. It will be around 87 degrees but will FEEL like 95 degrees! At least, I won't be running around like the girls playing soccer--If I tried, I'd probably have a heart attack or at least I'd collapse!

Today I facilitated the fifth and final Sunday School lesson on "God, Consciousness, and the Cosmos." We watched a dvd ordered from The View From the Center of the Universe, which I now have watched twice and probably would like to see several more times. You can also download it to your computer, and I would urge you to do so!

With Fr. David gone, attendance at church today was sparse. I heard that there were only 15 in the earliest one, but that's always a small service. I was glad I was there and felt blessed during the Eucharist.

Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603

Every day you can find a beautiful picture of the cosmos by going to APOD: Astronomy Picture of the Day and click on the date you want to look at. Here is today's picture, which you can see more completely by going to the website.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Thanks to PS the Astronomy Picture of the Day is available for each of us! Click here to see a new amazing picture every day! WOW! Thank you, God of the Cosmos!

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

1/10,000 of a second!

1/10,000 of a second

When I visited Jan at Happening Here I found this great video of a wombat that is a flash animation of the world and how "we have to get along" with all our neighbors. I went to the website this was from Global Mind Shift and found the link to the above little animated video about time. Since I've been teaching Sunday School lessons about God, cosmos, and evolution again, this quickie trip through time really hit me. So go up and click on the clock and you can see it, too!

And if you go and explore the website, you'll find many more little videos under the category of Memes.

Good Links to the Universe!

For the past four weeks I've been teaching or talking about "God and the Universe" at an adult Sunday School class at First United Methodist Church, my former church home. I learned a lot and am still learning, coming from my non-scientific background. (And my husband is a PhD. chemist.) I've committed to teaching about this again in September at All Saints Episcopal Church, my church and heart home. This time I am calling the class "God, Evolution, and the Cosmos." Since I've only read half of Primack and Abrams' book The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos, I am planning to read the rest before this up-coming class. It is a very interesting book and one written in a way where non-physicists can start to understand some of the physics involved in cosmology. In fact, it's exciting! Like this:

The heat radiation from the Big Bang was discovered in 1965, but it could probably have been detected almost 20 years earlier when the technology needed for detecting it was invented during WW II. But no one looked! No details of the cosmic background radiation could be seen until 1992 and only sharp detail across the whole sky was detected in 2003.

And here are some "facts" that are mind-boggling (as connected to us on earth):
Number of superclusters within 1 billion light years = 100
Number of galaxy groups within 1 billion light years = 240,000
Number of large galaxies within 1 billion light years = 3 million
Number of dwarf galaxies within 1 billion light years= 60 million
Number of stars within 1 billion light years = 250,000 trillion

If you are interested in more info, read the book listed above and look at/investigate the links I'll list below:

Sloan Digital Survey/ Sky Server

This website presents data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a project to make a map of a large part of the universe.

The Atlas of the Universe
Pictures, images, maps, useful internet links, and glossary

Univ. Of Oregon Astronomy: Galaxies and the Expanding Universe

The View from the Center of the Universe

Links to online resources showing videos of the universe.

Hubble Site

eSky: The Electronic Sky

Highlights from the conference on The New Cosmology

Dr. Brian Swimme spoke at the Oblate School of Theology's Summer Institute in San Antonio, TX on June 18-21:

• We're in the middle of a change of human consciousness. Our last cosmological view is exemplified by the painting in the Sistine Chapel of God reaching out to touch Adam's hand. Human kind thinks that creation occurs through "hands"--as in "take hold of the idea."
• The next galaxy of comparable size from our (Milky Way) galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy, which is the furthest we can see with the naked eye. It is 2 1/2 million light years away from us. Back then there was homo habilis starting to use stone tools, but now we are beginning to see and understand galactic spaciousness--which also shows us the time dimension of human consciousness.
• We were not "placed" on a planet, but are emerging. Life is a deep expression of what was already here. [This goes along with Ken Wilber's thoughts in his book "Up From Eden."]
• Dr. Swimme talked about extinction and that about 20,000 species are eliminated each year in our current era. ["Based on a total of 10 million species, the current annual loss has been calculated to be 20,000 to 30,000 species."] http://www.grinningplanet.com/2004/07-13-2x/endangered-species-conservation-article.htm
• He said that the present moment is the worst in 65 million years, since the demise of the dinosaurs. Thus, he proposes this as the end of the cenozoic era and we're entering a new one.
• Swimme quoted Thomas Berry in suggesting that we need to learn how to live in a way that is "mutually enhancing"--which is moving from a world view of "hardware orientation" (earth is our "resource bin") to living in community/communion orientation.
• BIRTH OF A NEW ERA OF IMAGINATION: Do we have enough imagination to invent a new religion? [That's something to ponder. . . . .)
• REALIZE that the universe exists to display its beauty. (And we are IN the universe; thus a part of it.)
  
• EACH moment is the ultimate moment of fulfillment of the universe.
• Just to be what he/she is meant to be is fulfillment of the universe!

Also, go to http://www.viewfromthecenter.com/ to download a 6 minute viewing of the universe, which is spectacular. It brought tears to my eyes and realization of God's magnificence.

At OST 2007 Summer Institute

I'm sitting in the Oblate's school library, just like I so often did when attending classes here in the past seven years. I am grateful that I came to this summer institute held here, which is entitled "Preserving the Integrity of Creation: Eco-Spirituality and Eco-ethics." The keynote speaker is Dr. Brian Swimme http://www.brianswimme.org/ whose website title is "The New Cosmology."

Last night he gave an amazing talk, with pictures included of aspects of the universe, which may appear on his website, that brought forth a little understanding about quantum physics, but a greater feeling of awe and wonder at the ever-expanding universe. Creation continues within and without! Brian started off by talking about the change of human consciousness and that we are in the middle of it--what synchronicity, since I've been reading books by Ken Wilber (Up From Eden, especially) and Beatrice Bruteau (The Grand Option) in which they postulate the evolving universe and humanity with the next leap of consciousness imminent--and that this can only be accomplished through greater awareness of the Divine, so both urge people to meditate/pray daily. It is so comforting to me, as I look at the dreadful ways humans are treating each other and the earth, to be shown hope that God is continuing to grow all of creation, which we are an infinitesimal part--but still a part. Minds are becoming aware of the Unity of All and urging us to SEE.

Two more talks by Dr. Swimme this afternoon and tonight. If I'm as overwhelmed as I was last night, sometimes even with tears, who knows when I'll be able to write about any of it??