Why do we see hydrogen and not something else?

In order to see, in space and time, that which is not in space and time, and

must therefore be changeless, infinite and undivided, there is a problem. The

problem arises because the nature of the underlying existence, its

changelessness, its infinitude and its undividedness, must show through in the

apparition, just as, when a rope is mistaken for a snake, the length of the rope,

through what is called the revealing power of the apparition, must show through

in the snake for which it is mistaken.

Now if the one were to be seen as two, the oneness (the undividedness)

of the underlying existence, showing through in the revealing power of the

apparition, would bring the two together and close the twoness down. Similarly, if

the one were to be seen as many, the oneness of the underlying existence would

bring the many together and close the manyness down. But if the one is seen as

both two and many, (the one against the other) then the many can prevent the

collapse of the two, and the two can prevent the collapse of the many, because

neither the two nor the many can be seen alone.

What we see in this Universe is an electrical duality against a gravitational

plurality and the oneness shows through in the duality as the electrical attraction

between the electron and the proton, and it shows through in the plurality as

gravity. And the demise of the duality is prevented by the gravitational

dissimilarity between the electron and the proton. That's Heisenberg's

uncertainty principle. And the demise of the plurality is prevented by the spin

duality. That's Pauli's exclusion principle.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle does not prevent the demise of the

electrical duality between the electron and the positron (an electron with a

positive charge) because gravity is not involved there. Neither the electron nor

the positron is wound up against gravity, but the proton is. And it is only the

gravitational wind up of the proton that prevents the collapse of the duality in

spite of the enormous electrical attraction between the proton and its electron. As

Richard Feynman has pointed out, "The electron is purely electrical, the proton is

not."

According to the Vedantins, energy is the underlying existence showing in

space and time through the revealing power of the apparition. It shows through in

space as the gravitational and electrical energies — energies of position in space.

And it shows through in time as inertia. But, as Swami Vivekananda pointed out

to Nikola Tesla in1896, these are all the same thing. That's why E = m, and why

the gravitational field is so much weaker than the electrical field. The total

electrical energy must equal the total gravitational energy, the total nuclear

energy and the total mass. 

If seeing, in space and time, that which is not in space and time is a

mistake, as the Vedantins have suggested, it's consoling to know that it will take

the form of hydrogen falling together to galaxies and stars.

The philosophy behind Vedanta was invented by physicists. And the

interesting thing, as I see it, is that the cosmological model that follows from their

old physics is the only such model from which we could have predicted gravity,

electricity and inertia. We could even have predicted Heisenberg's uncertainty

principle to keep up the electrical duality, and Pauli's exclusion principle to keep

up the gravitational plurality. And, so far as I can see, it's the only cosmological

model that predicts that the Universe must have frustration built in so that neither

gravity nor electricity can succeed, and so the Universe could not go on like this.

Way out there, in the Great Elswhere, God is seen as hydrogen,

monatomic hydrogen, falling together by gravity, coasting by inertia and shining

by starlight because the undividedness, the changelessness and the infinitude of

the underlying existence shows through. "If you find yourself at sea in a small,

unlighted boat, alone in the darkness of a cloudless night, and if you look into the

darkness of the space between the stars, then keep wide awake, and if your

heart is filled with wonder and your mind is filled with peace, there is a chance

that you will understand."

Most of the monatomic hydrogen remains dispersed through the vast

expanse of the intergalactic spaces of the Great Elsewhwere. Only a little bit of it

has condensed into something we could see.

Mother is the hydrogen. Mother is the star.

She falls it all together to make us what we are.

She makes the heavy elements and throws them all around,

To make the rocky planets with soil on the ground.

She scatters the ingredients across the planet Earth,

Assembling them with sunlight to give us all our birth.

She shines the sun on all these plants; the oxygen is waste.

We munch the plants, and huff and puff, and run around in haste.

But we, poor dears, so mean of heart, assume we're in the know,

And thinking we can manage, fail to see Who runs the show.

John L. Dobson 4135 Judah St. San Francisco, CA 94122

February 25, 2002 (415) 665-4054