An
omnipotent creator could transcend time and space in the context of eternity.
Scientists
have comprehensively investigated the origins of the universe and have suggested
logical solutions for the processes and time scale through which the universe
has developed, including the evolution of humans, but how the inherent matter
was created and the underlying purpose of the creation itself are enduring
mysteries that still elude them. The ancient beliefs and mythologies of most
races, in common with the creeds of the many religions established through the
ages, all include traditions about the creation. Of the many traditions, the
earliest written records relate to the system of religious thought and moral
rectitude of the people of ancient Egypt. They are expressed in the myth of
Osiris concerning events that are said to have taken place at the First Sunrise of the Zep
Tepi, also referred to as the
First Time of Osiris, which some
investigators have dated to about 10450 BCE. These traditional creation
beliefs provide an important and interesting introduction when considering the
influence of space and time in the process of creation. The fundamental aspects
of most creation beliefs have much in common with those of the well known
creation story in Genesis, which researchers say is a restatement of earlier
creation myths of the Middle East, especially those of Babylon.
The
traditional story of the creation in Genesis says that God created the heavens
and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. Some believe that the
story in Genesis accurately defines both the processes and the period of the
creation, whilst others prefer to consider it in an allegorical context. The
Genesis story of God's creation of the universe is fundamental to the creeds of
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the most widely spread of the modern religions.
These three religions have three important beliefs in common, which are: that
God is eternal, omniscient and all powerful; that God created the universe and
has a continuing interest in it; and that the soul is immortal and is destined
to return to the Creator at the end of this transient existence on earth. If the
creation story in Genesis is not examined solely in its context as a record of
some of the most ancient beliefs concerning the creation phenomena, but also is
interpreted as a narrative of the sequence of events in the creation, as
distinct from the timescale of those events, then it is a surprisingly accurate
reflection of the sequence of evolution revealed by modern scientific
investigation.
The
creation beliefs of the traditional tribal societies, sometimes called the
pre-literary societies, are typical of most primitive beliefs. The traditional
tribal societies are groups of people among the ancient primitive races who
share a common culture and set of values, but have neither a scientific
knowledge nor a written tradition. The Australian Aborigines are an outstanding
example of these ancient pre-literary tribal societies, having occupied
Australia continuously for at least thirty thousand years with no outside
influence. They once comprised more than five hundred tribes each having its own
language and territory. Their religious beliefs were essentially monotheistic
and were all remarkably similar, based on sphere of existence called an Eternal Dreaming. This belief visualises the beginning of the Eternal
Dreaming as the formative period of the world when the Ancestral
Beings came into existence, from whence all life originated. They also
believe that the Eternal Dreaming will continue through all eternity and that
ultimately it is identified with the Land
of the Dead, to which all life is destined eventually to return.
The
Ancestral
Beings of the Australian Aborigines are portrayed in the myth cycles of
several different corroborees that depict the creative Dreaming
Tracks, which the Ancestral
Beings are believed to have made across the land. Among these Ancestral
Beings the central figure is the Supreme
Being, who is known as the All
Father. It is believed that the All
Father was the original creator of all things, including all other Ancestral
Beings. All of the Ancestral
Beings who travelled the creative Dreaming
Tracks are envisaged as subsidiaries of the creative All
Father, who now lives in the Land
of the Dead in the sky. It also is believed that an Ancestral
Being can be the progenitor of a human group and also of a species of
animal, from which the tribal totems have been derived as well as the special
relationships that certain tribes have with certain animals.
The
pre-literary society of the Incas of South America is particularly interesting,
even though the available information is rather scanty. It is known that the
Incas believed in a Supreme
Being, whom they called Huiracocha,
who invariably was represented by a golden idol and delegated his authority to
nature-gods, including the sun, which they revered and called Inti. They also held the
stars, moon, earth, sea and weather in reverence. The Incas were especially
concerned with life after death and believed that spirits, which they called Huacha,
dwelt in places and things and consisted of nine tribes each divided into
several clans. The souls of dead rulers and nobles were considered to be
particularly important. Although special places were regarded as sacred, worship
was carried out in the open air. The temples and shrines were mainly used to
store images of the gods and other items used in worship. The most significant
of the Incan sanctuaries and probably the one best known was the Temple
of the Sun at Cuzco, in Bolivia, which is at an elevation of almost
6,000 metres.
The
Ameru people in Africa provide another interesting example of the myths of the
pre-literary societies. They live on the slopes and plains to the east and north
of Mount Kenya and are divided into nine tribes, each subdivided into several
clans. The Ameru people are monotheists and believe that a Supreme
Being resides alone in the sky or on the top of Mount Kenya. Their Supreme
Being is regarded as the source of everything that is good, but it is
their common belief that the Supreme Being should not be bothered
with petty things, otherwise he might become angry. The fundamental beliefs of
the Amerus are reflected in their traditional prayers, which include the
following revealing passage:
"God, you created me
and gave me strength.
Everything in its
completeness is from God.
Give me strength and give
me all things good."
A
wide diversity of the primitive races, though by no means all, believe that
everything in the world is interconnected spiritually and that the journey from
birth through death will lead to a new life. To them the various aspects of life
cannot be considered separately, because the mysterious unseen influences have
an impact on all things tangible. Although they understand the normal sequence
of events in everyday life and comprehend the effects of weather and the
seasons, spiritual forces are seen to permeate their environment and to dominate
their thoughts. The mechanical view of the universe that is often espoused by
science has no place in the spirit-dominated world of the primitive pre-literary
societies. Their approach to life is manifested in several of the ancient
religions.
The
beliefs of ancient Egypt emerged among the pre-literary societies probably
before their predynastic period, which is usually dated from about 5000 BCE
to 3100 BCE. As with a majority of the prehistoric religions, the religion
of ancient Egypt was basically monotheistic and founded on the cult of a Mother Goddess,
who was the generating force of all things of god and man. Long before the
writing of hieroglyphics had become established in about 3100 BCE or
probably earlier, the beliefs in Egypt had crystallised as a religion of hope
and resurrection, in what was then called Planet
Egypt. The earliest of all religious records so far discovered are the Pyramid Texts in the
pyramid of Unas, who was the last of the Fifth Dynasty pharaohs and ruled in
about 2345 BCE. Eminent Egyptologists are of the opinion that the originals
of those texts would have been written about a thousand years before they
appeared in the pyramid of Unas. In 1895, when Professor E A Wallis Budge
completed his translation of the Papyrus of Ani, which is a version of the Book
of the Dead, he said that the texts contained proofs that they had been
composed long before the days of the Pharaoh Mena, who ruled in about 3300 BCE
or earlier. The true religion of ancient Egypt is typified by the cosmogeny of
Annu, which is the "city
of the pillar" called On referred to in the Bible and later renamed
Heliopolis by the Greek pharaohs. The cosmogeny of Annu was founded on a belief
in one absolute God, who was the beginning and end of all things visible and
invisible.
In
ancient Egypt
Ra was believed to be the Absolute
Spirit and was regarded as the Light
and Conscience of the Universe, who was diffused in the primordial
darkness of the Chaos that existed before the creation. When Ra
became aware of himself in the Great
Silence he called up his own image Amon, which was the Spirit
of the Universe Itself. This call was the Word or Creative
Power,
which caused the kingdoms of space-air or Shu
and movement-fire or Tefnut
to materialise. They in turn generated and separated the earth Geb
from the sky Nut, which received the creative forces of terrestrial and
celestial life, Osiris the fertilising force and Isis the generating force,
who together ended the primordial Chaos
and brought the universe into equilibrium. Ra watched over humanity in the paradise of the kingdoms of Shu
and Geb,
until the forces of evil appeared as the destroying couple Seth and Nephthys.
Ultimately Osiris and Isis,
in their capacity as the life-bearing couple, overcame the repeated assaults of Seth and Nephthys
and established resurrection and eternal life, which is the foundation of the
myth of Osiris. Some time later Horus,
the son of Isis
and Osiris
known as the Living One, became the first man-god who ruled Egypt as a
pharaoh.
It
seems that Horus
was the catalyst for the belief in a Messiah, which the Israelites developed during
their long sojourn in Egypt, before their exodus under the leadership of Moses.
This belief in the Messiah became a fundamental tenet of Judaism and later of
Christianity. The true religion of Egypt waned after the power of the pharaohs
collapsed at the end of the Old Kingdom, in about 2100 BCE, when the
priesthood progressively acquired supreme power and fostered polytheism among
the uneducated multitude. When the devout pharaoh Akhenaten ruled from 1372 BCE
to 1354 BCE, he abolished the power of the priesthood and declared the
supposed functions of the multitude of gods to be void, restoring the religion
of one absolute god and the belief in a resurrection. After Akhenaten’s death
the priesthood regained their power and polytheism became prevalent again.
Ultimately many of the true believers of the old religion were absorbed into the
Coptic Christian Church. After the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs in 639-642 CE,
most of the population converted to Islam and Arabic became the national
language.
Hinduism
has grown progressively over some five thousand years and is called the
sanatana dharma,
or the Eternal
Religion, by its followers. Its beginnings predate the birth of Abraham,
the progenitor of Judaism, by almost a thousand years. Hinduism has absorbed the
many cultures and religions of India and also the ideals and ethics of
Christianity and Islam, as well as adapting itself to a temporal existence
influenced by modern evolutionary science. Hinduism is not and never was a
static religion, but has always been a liberal and progressive synthesis of
religious beliefs that constitutes a total way of life and conduct. Hinduism
reflects the evolution of religious perception from the earliest of the
primitive pre-literary societies to the present and therefore encompasses the
creation beliefs established in the ancient religions.
The
Hindu Scriptures are many and voluminous. They were originally written in
Sanskrit over a period of more than two thousand years and are of two classes.
The class comprising the Sruti,
meaning what is heard, give details of the eternal truths revealed to
the rishis or seers. The class comprising the Smriti, meaning what
is remembered, elucidate eternal truths and contain all of the sacred
texts except the Vedas. The two greatest Hindu epics are the Ramayana
and the Mahabharata, which belong to the Smriti. The sacred texts
are supplemented by the Vedas,
meaning divine knowledge or wisdom
which, when applied to the scriptures, signifies the Book of Wisdom. The
earliest texts date from the Aryan invasion of India, which began on the
Indo-Iranian frontier in about 2000 BCE and reached the Ganges valley by
1500 BCE. The Sruti comprise four sets of Vedas, each of which has
three parts, which are called the Mantras
or hymns of praise, the Brahmanas
or ritual guides written in prose and the Upanishads
or philosophical and mystical discourses on the spiritual truths. Individual
truths are seen as manifestations of the One
Truth or Reality. The Upanishads
are the foundation of modern Hinduism. Its teachings are based on a search for
the identity of Brahman the Eternal
Being or Reality,
knowledge of the Atman or True
Self and the relationship between Brahman and the Atman.
Every part of reality, including the Atman, is believed to be an aspect of Brahman. This search for
the ultimate Reality culminates in an inner mystical experience that is
reflected in the following Hindu prayer:
"From
delusion lead me to truth.
From
darkness lead me to light.
From
death lead me to immortality."
The
Trimurti
of Hinduism is the triad of Brahma
the Creator,
Vishnu
the Preserver
and Siva
the Destroyer.
The power to create, to preserve and to destroy are seen as the three roles of
the Supreme
Being, believed to be all‑embracing, all‑pervading and
ever‑present. God is identified with the sum total of creation, so that
while he can transcend creation he is never completely separated from it.
Another significant belief is that God always creates out of himself or out of
something he has already created, but never from nothing. In its primitive form
Hinduism has a polytheistic element, but the images of the various deities
included in those ceremonies are considered by enlightened Hindus merely to
focus their devotion, because they are imaginative representations of some of
the infinite aspects of God. An important concept is the law of karma,
which signifies action or doing.
In modern Hinduism karma
is a moral interpretation of the law of action and reaction applied to both good
and evil actions, but fixed in the spiritual realm. It is inextricably tied in
with samsara or wheel
of existence whereby the empirical self, which is distinct from the
soul, is believed to transmigrate repeatedly from body to body, taking its load
of karma with it. However it
is also believed that this cycle ultimately can be broken when the soul, which
is viewed as eternal and in some senses identical with Brahman, is delivered from
its body‑soul bondage in the universe of space and time, through what is
called moksha or mukti,
which signifies the release of the soul from all constraints of righteousness
and unrighteousness.
Taoism
is the ancient religion of China. Its roots stretch back for almost five
thousand years to its traditional founder, Huang Ti, the Yellow Emperor whose
reign commenced in about 2700 BCE. Tao means the
Way and is a convenient term for what is often called "the
Nameless". The Tao
is the eternal, vast and unknowable pure spirit which existed before the
universe was born, that being
which permeates all things and is the mother of the cosmos and also its
container and sustainer. The Tao
is said to be the One, which gave birth to the Two called the yin
and yang.
They combined harmoniously to produce the Three,
which are called the Three
Treasures and produce the innumerable objects of the universe. Pure
cosmic yin pertains to earth and pure cosmic yang pertains to heaven. Yin
is the negative and passive principle and yang
is the positive and active principle. The Three Treasures are the fundamental elements or energies called ching
meaning essence, ch'i
meaning vitality and shen
meaning spirit, believed to be active in all levels of life from the
tiniest organism to the vast macrocosm itself.
Taoism
is a mysterious and charmingly poetic expression of religion combining the
elements of folk‑lore and the occult sciences with mysticism, cosmology
and philosophy. It is based on a belief that all the myriad objects in existence
derive their being from Tao
and that their illusory separateness is the result of the continuous interplay
of yin
and yang.
Taoism is a living remnant of an ancient way of life that constitutes a quest
for immortality and to enter Nirvana,
where the finite being sheds the illusion of a separate existence by casting off
imaginary limitations, thus returning to the Source
and becoming a part of the infinite. The Tao Tsang or Taoist
Canon comprises almost 5,500 volumes, of which both the I Ching
or Book of Change and the Tao-te
Ching or The Way and its Power are well known. The former is the
traditional work recording the basis of ancient Taoism, which was passed down
orally through the centuries until committed to writing. The latter is the
primary canon of Taoism attributed to Laocius, the Ancient Sage better known
by the pseudonym Lao-tzu, which literally means the “old philosopher”.
Lao-tzu wrote the canon when requested by followers of Taoism before he retired
into seclusion. He is the legendary elder contemporary of Master Confucius, but
the stories of this relationship are entirely apocryphal.
Shinto
embraces the traditional religious practices of Japan, but its origins are
shrouded in the mists of time. Shinto has no founder, nor any inspired writings,
so that although a wide variety of thought and practice has been assimilated
through the ages, no systematic doctrine has ever been developed. Shinto has
similarities with the cult of the Mother
Goddess in the pre-literary societies of prehistoric Egypt, with
primitive Hinduism and also with the Incan religion. The fundamental traditions
that had become established practice before Buddha was born in 563 BCE and
Confucius was born in 551 BCE are those that are relevant to a
consideration of creation. The word Shinto
signifies the
Way of the Kami and was coined about two thousand years ago to
distinguish the Japanese traditions from both the doctrines of Buddha that
originated on the Indian subcontinent and those of Confucius that originated in
China.
The
traditions of Shinto say that, when heaven and earth began, there was a
spontaneous generation of the original kami
trio, of which the principal element is called "the Lord who fills the
universe", which originally was referred to as the "Lord
of Central Heaven". The other two elements of the trio were
respectively male and female, who were related to the generative processes and
located on the high plane of heaven. These heavenly kami then generated
several celestial kami that were identified with various divine qualities, the
last being the creative male‑female couple called Izanagi and Izanami
respectively. They were responsible for the generation of earthly objects and
the earthly kami of sea and wind, of rivers and mountains, of trees and
plants and also of food. Shinto is a man‑centred religion with four basic
elements of worship which are: purification, offering, prayer and a sacred meal
for fellowship with the kami,
but only the more religiously inclined are likely to perceive any inward
spiritual meaning.
Buddhism
was derived from Hinduism during its period of reaction and renaissance and its
fundamental beliefs are similar to those of Hinduism. The practice of Buddhism
is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born on the borders of
Nepal in about 563 BCE. Buddha
is a title that signifies "the
Enlightened One" and also "the
Awakened One", especially when it is referred to Gautama. The
enlightenment of Gautama consisted of four Truths
concerning the conduct of life. The first Truth states that a condition of mental and physical suffering
is an omnipresent and inherent element in the nature of life. The second Truth
states that the cause of suffering is desire that is rooted in ignorance
and cannot be satisfied in this mortal existence. The third Truth
is that suffering ceases when desire ceases. The fourth Truth is the eightfold
path that leads to the cessation of suffering. The eight steps in the eightfold
path are right views; right aspirations; right speech; right conduct; right mode
of livelihood; right effort; right awareness; and right concentration. An
essential concept of Buddhism is Karma,
which has been discussed under Hinduism and is believed to be the only human
element that continues after mortal death. Another essential concept is that of
impermanence, because all that exists passes through the cycle of birth, growth,
decay and death to achieve a different form. Separate or individual existence is
regarded as an illusion, because the self has neither beginning nor ending but
is an ephemeral existence that can only culminate in Nirvana,
which is an ethical state that eliminates future rebirth, extinguishes craving,
removes suffering and provides a state of passionless happiness.
Confucianism
is a derivative of Taoism and its fundamental beliefs are similar. The founding
sage of Confucianism was K'ung Fu Tzu who was born in 551 BCE. He was
called the "philosopher
K'ung" and known as Confucius. As was the custom of Lao-tzu before
him, Confucius wandered from court to court seeking princely support for his
teachings to be put into practice, but it was not until during the reign of
Emperor Wu, which began in 141 BCE, that Confucianism was accepted as the
official doctrine in China. Confucianism is not a religion in the commonly
accepted sense, but would be described better as an ethical system of life,
which is usually called "the
School" or "the
Teaching". In this respect and also having regard to the methods Confucianism
uses to impart its principles, it has much in common with freemasonry.
Confucius wrote many books, of which the Analects
would be one of the better known. It comprises a collection of his sayings and
provides a trustworthy account of his interests and opinions. Like most Chinese
philosophers Confucius seems to have believed in the inherent goodness of man,
rather than in his innate sinfulness as depicted in the Bible. Confucius showed
pleasure in ritual to impart his teachings. Although his primary interest was in
the affairs of this world rather than of the next, he threw no new light on the
solution of life's problems. He was a strong advocate of giving positive help to
others and espoused the simple philosophy that virtue is the foundation of
happiness. Confucius revered ancestors and believed in antiquity, which he
admired greatly. He lived a simple life and put himself forward as a transmitter
of ancient knowledge rather than as an innovator.
We
have seen that an incredibly diverse spectrum of humanity, from the earliest
primitive pre‑literary societies until the present, has contemplated the
purpose of creation and the meaning of life itself, the mortality of human
existence and the immortality of the soul, as well as humanity's relationship
with the creator. As we cannot yet put ourselves into the mind of God, the
purpose of creation remains a mystery that we may not be able to comprehend
during our mortal existence. But, if we believe that there is a God who was
responsible for the creation of humanity and that every human being has an
immortal soul, then we may be confident that in the fullness of time that which
is now unknown will become known. This is a matter of faith, which the world's
religions clearly indicate to have been inherent in the human psyche from time
immemorial. What are believed to have been the specific steps in the creation,
as well as the means whereby creation was implemented, differ in detail from
religion to religion. However, the perceived variations in these beliefs seem
only to reflect the inadequacies of diverse attempts to express a profound
concept in mundane language, rather than to reflect fundamental differences in
concept. This broad spectrum of beliefs is covered in many books, of which The
World's Religions edited by Sir Norman Anderson, the Oxford
Dictionary of World Religions edited by John Bowker and also The World's
Religions by Ninian Smart, all would be of interest to the reader
seeking a comprehensive coverage.
Whether
God created out of nothing or out of himself is often subject to intense debate,
suggesting that this element of belief indicates significant differences in
fundamental concepts. However, as either alternative should be equally possible
if the creator is omnipotent, this element of belief should not be a problem of
consequence. Two other closely allied questions that are frequently and hotly
debated are whether the human soul, or vital life force, is a part of God's
spirit and whether God's spirit permeates the whole creation. Once again, each
of these alternatives should be possible if the creator is omnipotent. However,
if the creator is omniscient and intends humanity to exert some directive
influence on the creation and intends the human soul ultimately to be reunited
in a life hereafter, then it would be logical for the human soul to be a part of
God's spirit that permeates the whole creation. Such a concept is within the
compass of significant world beliefs and is not precluded by developments within
modern science. Therefore it should not be dismissed lightly.
When
Sir Isaac Newton published his Principia
Mathematica in 1687, he synthetised all scientific advances made during
the two preceding centuries and propounded his theory of gravitation. The
concepts he expounded seemed able to explain the entire universe and as a result
the perception of a purely mechanical universe grew in momentum. Many scientists
said that God did not exist in the scheme of things, because neither a creator
nor a driving force was required. This view appeared to be supported by the
theory of evolution Charles Darwin advanced in The Origin of the Species by
Natural Selection, the brief title of his first book published in 1859.
Darwin extended his theory to include the evolution of humanity in The
Descent of Man, which was published in 1871.
In
1900 Max Planck was the first to establish that all energy, including light,
consists of whole units, which is the basis of quantum mechanics. Then in 1917,
when Lord Ernest Rutherford investigated the structure of the atom, he found
similarities to the solar system and established the nuclear theory of the atom.
Advocates of a mechanical universe claimed that the nuclear theory supported
their concept, but experiments in quantum mechanics have since proved that
elements of subatomic matter, such as electrons, can exist either as particles
or as waves and that they are influenced by the uncertainty principle
established by Werner Heisenberg early in the 1920s. This uncertainty causes
unpredictability and disorder, which negates the hypothesis of cause and effect
that is fundamental to the theory of a purely mechanical universe.
When
Albert Einstein first published his special theory of relativity in 1905,
followed in 1917 by his general theory incorporating gravity, he said the space
occupied by the universe is elastic and part of an expanding space‑time
continuum that has finite boundaries. The proponents of a purely mechanical
universe seized upon Einstein's work as proof of their theory, but Einstein said
himself "I
want to know how God created this world". Einstein's theory of an
expanding universe was confirmed by observations made by Edwin Hubble during the
1920s, when he found by measurement that the recessional velocity of the
observable galaxies increases at a rate of 32 kilometres per second per
million light years. The regression of this accelerating rate of expansion is
the basis of the big
bang theory, the essence of which is that the universe erupted into
being about 15,000 million years ago, from an initial boundary of space and time
called a singularity.
Theories
have been advanced to explain the big
bang as a spontaneous explosion in empty space that somehow created
matter by natural means, without any input of energy. However, it has not been
possible to give a satisfactory explanation of such an origin in scientific
terms, nor has an explosion of this kind ever been demonstrated experimentally,
so the theory of a clockwork universe that is purely mechanical in operation has
fallen into disfavour. The presently accepted theory is that, immediately before
the big bang and at the beginning of time, all matter and all space
were infinitely compressed. No theories have been advanced to explain why such
an event should have occurred or to suggest its ultimate purpose. However, as it
presupposes the creation of space, time and matter, it clearly does not negate
the existence of a Supreme Being who created the universe. On the contrary, such a
creation suggests that there must be a divine purpose, beyond present mortal
comprehension. Moreover, the concept of a divine link between God and man
receives convincing support from the fact that science can neither identify nor
quantify that inner spirit which mysteriously endows inanimate material with the
breath of life.
It
is axiomatic that both space and time must coexist before it is possible for
matter to exist within them. Space and time therefore must either have existed
before the primeval explosion or have been created by or at the same time as the
explosion. Space is commonly taken for granted and often visualised as a
limitless void, but its many implications are hard to comprehend. As far as we
know, the Atomists of ancient Greece were the first to record
their concepts of matter and space. Aristotle credits Leucippus of Miletus with
the suggestion, made during the fifth century BCE, that matter is comprised of
separate particles that can move about in space and combine together.
Democritus, a pupil of Leucippus, developed the concept and named the particles atomos, meaning indivisible
in Greek. John Dalton established a scientific basis for the simple Greek idea,
when he introduced atoms as the name of the units of matter taking part in chemical
reactions at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
In
the fourth century BCE, Heraclitus believed that the cosmos is in a ceaseless
state of flux and motion and said that the earth moves like a wheel on its own
axis. When Nicolas Copernicus read Heraclitus's statements, it induced him to
make extensive observations of the heavens, from which he concluded that the
earth revolves around the sun. Copernicus published a treatise from his deathbed
in 1543, changing forever man's conception of his place in the universe. The
famous mathematician, astronomer and physicist, Galileo Galilei
(1564‑1642), substantiated Copernicus's theories when he developed
astronomical telescopes. When Galileo made his results known the Church
imprisoned him for refuting the supposed divine knowledge that the
earth was the centre of the universe, which the Church had taught for centuries.
Galileo also discovered the constancy of the oscillation of pendulums in space.
Sir Isaac Newton (1642‑1727) derived general laws
for mass, force and acceleration on the basis of absolute values for space and
time, which were considered to be fixed and independent of the person taking the
measurements and independent of the instruments used.
Albert
Einstein (1879‑1955) based his theories of relativity on the concept that
uniform motion is relative and that the mass, length and time interval of an
object appears to change when it moves relative to the observer. The differences
are of no consequence in everyday experience, but are of great significance as
the speed of light is approached. An object travelling at 90% of the speed of
light would appear to any stationary observer as having shrunk by more than
half, while its mass would have increased many times and its clock would seem to
run at less than half speed. The concept of time as elapsing or flowing has led
scientists to search for a time‑flux, but none has been discovered. An interval of
time is, in effect, the sum of a series of discrete instantaneous events. It has
been found that time is affected by gravity, running faster in space ships that
are free from earth's gravity than it does on the earth's surface. Space and
time cannot be considered independently, because when space expands or shrinks
so does time. Gravity is the main force shaping the galaxies and controlling
intergalactic motions, which is reflected in the theory of relativity as a
distortion of the geometry of space and time, producing a curved elastic space‑time
continuum of finite dimensions.
Time
and eternity
It
has been argued that the concept of God transcending time and space is
untenable, based on the assumption that the qualities attributed to God make
sense only if he is continually active in the universe, within the framework of
time. However if God is omnipotent, it is logical to assume that space and time
are coeval with God's existence in a state of eternity, having neither beginning
nor ending. This state of affairs is more harmonious and easier to comprehend
than a spontaneous creation of everything out of nothing, within a complete
void. Moreover it is quite possible that ours is only one of many diverse
universes, which might have been created for various reasons that as yet are
unfathomable by mere mortals. If indeed there are several universes, then it
seems reasonable to assume that they would not all have come into existence
simultaneously.
Should
either or both of these circumstances prevail, time within our universe would
only be relative in relation to eternity, commencing with the primeval explosion
by which our universe was created. This is comparable with the situation on
earth, because time on earth is only relative in relation to the time scale of
our universe, commencing with the formation of earth. With all of these factors
in mind, it is entirely conceivable that an omnipotent creator could transcend
time and space in the context of eternity, whilst also pervading our universe
within the framework of our relative time scale. In many respects this concept
is analogous to the theory of relativity and provides an elegant solution to
what otherwise might seem to be insoluble. In essence, this envisages that God
pervades the whole of creation, whether it is only this universe or many, whilst
admitting the possibility that the soul of man is an extension of the spirit of
God. These are beliefs that have been held by many eminent philosophers and
countless others since the beginning of recorded history.
