Author Archives: vinaire

I am originally from India. I am settled in United States since 1969. I love mathematics, philosophy and clarity in thinking.

The Unknown Influence

Reference: Religion

“Unknown influence” is the most fascinating factor that has always occupied human interest. While browsing through the Wikipedia I came across the following explanations, which I have presented in slightly modified form.

A Phenomenon is any observable occurrence.

The Noumenon is a posited object or event that is known (if at all) without the use of the senses.

Numen means, literally, “an influence perceptible by mind but not by senses.”

Senses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide inputs for perception.

Human physiology is the science of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of humans in good health, their organs, and the cells of which they are composed.

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Those subscribing to the explanations above do not look at mind as a sense organ. Buddhism presents a very different viewpoint. It looks at mind as just another sense organ like the body. See Observation, Experience and Looking.

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Numinous is an English adjective describing the power or presence of a divinity.

Divinity refers to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in the world.

Transcendence refers to the aspect of nature which is wholly independent of (and removed from) the physical universe.

Immanence refers to theories, in which the divine is seen to be manifested in or encompassing of the material world.

The Divine presence basically boils down to an unknown influence.

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The unknown influence could simply be conceived as something the mind perceives. However, the conception of this perception gets complicated when mind is not conceived as a sense organ.

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Observation, Experience and Looking

Observation is the activity of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses.

Experience is observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event.

Looking is the use of sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind) to observe and experience what is there.

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Please note that mind is defined here as a sense organ and not as a computing machine.

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From What Buddha Taught:

A word about what is meant by the term “Mind’ (manas) in Buddhist philosophy may be useful here. It should clearly be understood that mind is not spirit as opposed to matter. It should always be remembered that Buddhism does not recognize a spirit opposed to matter, as is accepted by most other systems of philosophies and religions. Mind is only a faculty or organ (indriya) like the eye or the ear. It can be controlled and developed like any other faculty, and the Buddha speaks quite often of the value of controlling and disciplining these six faculties. The difference between the eye and the mind as faculties is that the former senses the world of colours and visible forms, while the latter senses the world of ideas and thoughts and mental objects. We experience different fields of the world with different senses. We cannot hear colours, but we can see them. Nor can we see sounds, but we can hear them. Thus with our five physical sense-organs-eye, ear, nose, tongue, body-we experience only the world of visible forms, sound, odours, tastes and tangible objects. But these represent only a part of the world, not the whole. What of ideas and thoughts? They are also a part of the world. But they cannot be sensed, they cannot be conceived by the faulty of the eye, ear, nose, tongue or body. Yet they can be conceived by another faculty, which is mind. Now ideas and thoughts are not independent of the world experienced by these five physical sense faculties. In fact they depend on, and are conditioned by, physical experiences. Hence a person born blind cannot have ideas of colour, except through the analogy of sounds or some other things experienced through his other faculties. Ideas and thoughts which form a part of the world are thus produced and conditioned by physical experiences and are conceived by the mind. Hence mind (manas) is considered a sense faculty or organ (indriya), like the eye or the ear.

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Relativity: Math Imitating Life

These are going to just some comments and references for a future article.

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Here is something by Albert Einstein to wonder about.

Relativity, The Special and General Theory

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In the first section of this book, Einstein makes the following points:

  1. Truth is relative to one’s experience. 
  2. If the experience is limited then one’s “truth” is limited.
  3. Euclidean Geometry is based on limited experience. 
  4. How do we consider a straight line? How do we consider distance?
  5. We assume locations in space to exist as if on a rigid body.

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Points from Section II:

  1. Let’s use a “rigid” Cartesian Coordinate System, and a rigid body as a unit, to describe positions in space.
  2. But, since optical observations are involved, let’s also take into account the properties of the propagation of light in determining the measurements.

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Points from Section III:

  1. Regarding “motion in space,” there is no such thing as an independently existing trajectory but only a trajectory relative to a particular body of reference. 
  2. The finiteness of the velocity of propagation of light would influence the perception of change in position with time.

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Points from Section IV:

  1. A system of co-ordinates of which the state of motion is such that the law of inertia holds relative to it is called a “Galileian system of co-ordinates.” 
  2. We cannot use a system of coordinates rigidly attached to earth, because, in that system of coordinates, stars would appear to be moving in a circle in violation of the law of inertia.
  3. We assume a Galileian systems of co-ordinates, which are rigid but not attached to earth. 

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Points from Section V:

  1. Principle of Relativity: Natural phenomena run their course according to exactly the same general laws with respect to all Galileian co-ordinate systems that are translating uniformly, and not rotating or acceleratingrelative to each other.
  2. We may assume, as our body of reference, a Galileian coordinate system K0, in which natural laws are capable of being formulated in a particularly simple manner.
  3. We may then assume K0 to be “absolutely at rest,” and all other Galileian systems K “in motion.”
  4. The “motion” of Galileian systems K shall contribute to their diminished simplicity, or increased complexity, of the formulation of natural laws.

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Points from Section VI:

  1. The theorem of the addition of velocities employed in classical mechanics, as we shall see, does not hold in reality.

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Points from Section VII:

  1. The velocity of light of any wave-length is constant in vacuum. It does not depend on the motion of the body emitting the light.
  2. The theorem of the addition of velocities employed in classical mechanics does not hold for the velocity of light, which remains the same with respect to all bodies of reference.
  3. This result comes into conflict with the principle of relativity set forth in Section V, because it would appear that different laws of propagation of light must necessarily hold for different coordinate systems.
  4. It seems that the principle of relativity must be rejected because the theoretical investigations into electromagnetic phenomena, leads conclusively to the constancy of the velocity of light in vacuo.
  5. In reality there is not the least incompatibility between the principle of relativity and the law of propagation of light, as shown in the special theory of relativity, by an analysis of the physical conceptions of time and space.

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Points from Section VIII:

  1. “Time” should be defined as a measure in the immediate vicinity (in space) of the event.

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Points from Section IX:

  1. Events that are simultaneous with reference to one co-ordinate system are not necessarily simultaneous with reference to another co-ordinate system because of the finite velocity of light.
  2. Every reference-body (co-ordinate system) has its own particular time.

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Points from Section X:

  1. Owing to the consideration of simultaneity, the measure of the same distance from two different coordinate systems, which are in relative motion to each other, is not necessarily the same.

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There is no loss of energy in a pure standing wave. In other words, the energy would be conserved. We may then look at this physical universe as an example of pure standing wave, because energy is conserved in this universe.

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The most fundamental phenomenon in this universe seems to be a back-and-forth motion around a reference value. Call it a vibration that creates waves; but this phenomenon seems to underlie all other phenomena.

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Light seems to be tied to the vacuum of the space itself rather than to anything existing in that space. In other words, light does not seem to travel relative to anything in space. The velocity of light is the same regardless of the motion of the frame of reference that is used.

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The velocity of light is finite. Einstein used this fact to query the very basis of perception on cosmic scales.

At atomic scales, light seems to condense as standing waves instead of reflect. It seems to be the fractal iteration of this condensation that appears as electrons, protons, neutrons, etc. This makes perception at atomic scales questionable too. Our perception seems to be limited to the middle band.

The frequency and wave-length of light corresponds in such a way that the velocity of light always remains the same. That is the basis of confirming that the universe is expanding using the redshift of the Doppler effect. We apply the same argument to the shift in the pitch of the sound of whistle of a passing train. This brings up the following questions:

(1) The velocity of sound is constant with respect to a medium, such as air. Would we perceive the same shift in the pitch of sound if the air is not all displaced and moved around  by the passing train?

(2) The velocity of light is constant in space. Can we treat space as a “medium” made up of not the usual material, but dark matter perhaps!

(3) Does this dark matter get disturbed by passing light, similar to the way air gets disturbed by the passing train?

(4) How does this dark matter appear to behave at atomic dimensions?

Note: This seems to be looking at the old ether theory again.

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Counting goes up to infinity; then that collection of infinity may be regarded as “one.” For example, Infinity of fundamental particles may take the shape of an apple. We may then count apples. Not all apples will have the same number of fundamental particles, but each would be regarded as a unit apple.

A brief introduction to infinity

The counting to infinity may be repeated with this new “one.”  This procedure may continue without limit. This procedure may be reversed without limit also.

This raises the question, “Do we have a rigid relationship between the “numbers” used to account for the atomic phenomena and the numbers used to account for the cosmic phenomena?”

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The following is the basic assumption underlying Euclidean Geometry, which was pointed out by Einstein:

Euclidean geometry assumes that points, directions and distances behave as if they are associated with a rigid body. We are conditioned to think this way because the rigid body of earth provides our frame of reference.

But the question remains, “Does the “fabric” of space behaves like a rigid body, and if not, then do the laws of Euclidean Geometry still apply?”

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Here is a very interesting comment on mechanical brain and free will by Alan Turing (AMT/B/5 Image 5):

The Turing Digital Archive

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[To be continued…]

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My All Time Favorite Music

Mozart. Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major

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The most beautiful rendition of Ave Maria

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Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

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New World Symphony

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Leonard Bernstein performs Beethoven’s Ode to Joy

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What a wonderful world

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EAST OF EDEN Jig a jig

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Time to Say Goodbye

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Ave Maria – Passion of the Christ

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Barcarolle from ‘Les contes d’Hoffmann’ by Offenbach

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MASSENET- MEDITATION DE THAÏS OPERA

Sit back, relax. meditate and enjoy…

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Point and Unit

There is a fundamental axiom which may be expressed in the following two forms:

  1. There is a POINT.

  2. There is a UNIT.

A LINE may be expressed in terms of points. A SURFACE may be expressed in terms of lines. A SOLID may be expressed in terms of surfaces. All forms may be expressed in terms of solids. This sort of buildup may keep on going toward more variety and complexity of forms.

COUNTING may be expressed in terms of units. ADDITION may be expressed in terms of counting. MULTIPLICATION may be expressed in terms of addition. EXPONENTIATION may be expressed in terms of multiplication. Besides, the opposite of addition may be expressed as SUBTRACTION. The opposite of multiplication may be expressed as DIVISION. The opposite of exponentiation may be expressed as LOGARITHMS. This sort of buildup may also keep on going toward more variety and complexity of thinking.

The above two “axioms” underlie all mathematics. Mathematics underlies all our thinking. The ideas of location, God, soul, etc., cannot exist without the ideas of POINT and UNIT.

It seems to me that mathematical principles underlie all spiritual and physical principles, and the ideas of point and unit underlie all mathematical principles.

These two axioms of POINT and UNIT, happen to be just postulates. They are a very basic part of the network of postulates that must form a oneness.

Their factualness comes from this oneness.

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