Before the Big Bang

   I watched Horizon the other evening smiling as theories that have lasted since the 1960's are now being questioned by the very people who 'discovered' them in the first place. Sir Roger Penrose featured as one of these who now disbelieved their own previous certainties. Well good on you, at least you have the integrity do so and also the credentials to be able to declare doubt without being ridiculed.
   What interested me was that the scientists had views which seemed to reflect their cultural beliefs. For example from India came the idea that the Big Bang is a reoccurance - thus mirroring the Hindu belief in Atman and the in and out breath of god. This exemplifies the backdrop to all beliefs be they religious or scientific. We are so engulfed in our cultural philosophies that we are in general unaware of their influence upon us.
  As a Sound Healer I do rather like the idea of the big bang. Not because of the theoretical astrophysics behind it, which I have to say is tenuous to say the least, but because it suggests that sound was part of the process. Many creation stories have sound in the form of "the word" or logos as the precursor to any form or substance. Genesis is a prime example "In the beginning was the word..."
   Whether there was a 'Big Bang' or not will remain a pertinent question for some time. As humans it is nigh on impossible to consider eternity of either space or time, let alone both! Viewed from our embodied time capsules or physical vehicles which are guaranteed to die, these concepts are existential conundrums perhaps best left to the philosophers rather than scientists. Still, only a couple of hundred years ago scientists were philosophers and vice versa.
   It may be said that we have advanced greatly since the era of alchemy and magik of John Dee. However, listening to the Horizon programme I would argue that many of the new theories are as 'outrageous' or 'romantic' even if they are backed by mathematical theory. And as for alchemy, well we are all involved in that for it is only the purification of the soul's journey otherwise known as self awareness!
   That however, is enough banging on for me... I have dinner to prepare and with my coooking skills another big bang is quite possible!