Thursday, July 8, 2010

Light: Connecting Principle of Creation

I have been thinking of light in relation to the Universe and the Kabbalah lately. Light is so fundamental to our very concept of reality that it is hard to imagine a world without light. From the Book of Genesis to the Special Theory of Relativity, light plays a STARing role. And how many times have you heard of light as a metaphor for good and darkness as a metaphor for evil? Or how about having knowledge as opposed to being "kept in the dark"?

The speed of light in a vaccuum is presently defined to be exactly 299,792,458 metres per second: In other words -pretty f^%$ing fast! The property of light that led to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is that it can NEVER go faster than itself. In a vacuum, light will always travel at a constant speed, even between particles of a substance through which it is shining. If you have a spacecraft travelling at 99% of the speed of light and it flashes a light beam ahead of it, the light isn't now going at almost twice as fast-it is still travelling at 299,792,458 metres per second.

However, even though you can't make light go any faster than its fixed speed you can bring it to a total standstill! Two independent teams of physicists have been able to bring light to a total stop by passing it through a strange state of matter called a Bose-Einstein Condensate of the element rubidium.

Some theories as to the physical and metaphysical nature of light follow: In 5th and 6th century BC India, the Hindu schools of Samkhya and Vaisheshika began to develop theories about light. According to the Samkhya school, light is one of the five "subtle" elements (tanmatra) from which emerge the "gross" elements. The atomicity of these elements is not specifically mentioned and it appears that they were actually taken to be contiguous.

The Vaisheshika school posits an atomic theory of the physical world on the non-atomic ground of ether, space and time. The basic atoms of those of earth (prthivi), water (pani), fire (agni), and air (vayu), that should not be confused with the ordinary meaning of these terms. These atoms are taken to form binary molecules that combine further to form larger molecules. Motion is defined in terms of the movement of the physical atoms and it appears that it is taken to be non-instantaneous. Light rays are taken to be a stream of high velocity tejas (fire) atoms. The particles of light can exhibit different characteristics depending on the speed and that arrangement of the tejas atoms. Around the first century BC, the Vishnu Purana refers to sunlight as "the seven rays of the sun."

Indian Buddhists such as the Dignaga in the 5th century and the Dharakirti in the 7th century, developed a type of atomism that is a philosophy about reality being composed of atomic entities that are momentary flashes of light or energy. They viewed light as being an atomic entity equivalent to energy, similar to the modern concept of photons. Well ahead of their time, they saw all matter as being composed of these light energy particles. The Rigveda posits that light consists of three primary colors: "Mixing the three colors, ye have produced all the objects of sight!"

I hope to be back soon with more. I am kind of stumbling in the "dark" with how to proceed with this series-but when I feel that I am finally totally flummoxed, a great comment or link from one of my readers/blogfriends "lights" my way! To my straight men and lesbian readers-sorry about all the beefcake lately- I am quite sexually frustrated right now- so please bear/bare with me-my uhh SortofSO/FB is in Europe right now acting as an escort for a very wealthy man until about the first of August-so it might be "Hunkalicious" at MFM for awhile! Until meeting him in April, I had no idea how incredibly creative and life- sustaining the act of intimacy could be. When we touch, I feel as if a supernovae's worth of "electric light" is going through my body and soul. He has also earned a place in my memory banks with the rather memorable (to me anyway) statement "Devin, not all private jets are luxurious, some are real clunkers!" Heavens forbid any man who has touched my soul to fly on a "clunker" of a private jet! With much love to anyone stopping by, Devin AKA Vayu (will explain the "vayu" soon).

The gentleman above is the stunning Nick Ayler. Lordy- what perfection! The gentleman for the "Keter" article is the Awesomely Astounding Anton Antipov. Anton and Nick remind me that God not only doesn't "play dice" but also allows a heavenly- sublime -ethereal- profound-beauty to echo through some of His MenCreatures!

4 comments:

X. Dell said...

I just bought a shiny new laptop a couple of weeks ago, and have discovered the joys of wi-fi--since I can't get any Web time at home. So reading this page in public places lately has been an eye-opener to me just to see how people react when they look over my shoulder. Runs the gamut, as I suppose pics of nude women would as well.

There's no need to apologize. The pics don't bother me at all, but your sexual frustration does. I wish better things for you, my friend. Unfortunately, due to distance and orientation I can't help you.

As far as this series goes, I think it's a good review of these aspects of Kaballah, and thus valuable.

The fact that light is so abundant around us, it's awesome nature sometimes escapes our notice. In his book Cold in the Light, Charles Gramlich brings these associations out in the open when the reader encounters a species for which light blinds and chill.

Then, there are days like this when I'm trying desperately to avoid the light and find the shade.

Michael said...

Well!!!! The sordid lives of MfM comes out! God, dating a Gigolo - that's so "American Gigolo". I love it. No judgement - I'm thrilled you are (sort of) seeing someone!

PLEASE let the uber wealthy man be Tony Hayward, BP CEO.

Alex Robinson said...

Funnily enough Devin, I was playing with a word veri from Michael a short while ago & 'light' came up - wv = 'boablyt' if I remember correctly
- following google I even came across a statement that the Bank of America (BOA)is a bLIGHT on humanity :) Thought you might enjoy that!!!

I hope you are wonderfully well My Dear! xox

Devin said...

Haha - hey Xdell- thanks for caring all the same!!!!!!!!
don't worry it is not as bad as i make it sound - i had been used to for so long "not getting any" that when I started getting it again and it was so unbelievably good- i kind of got obsessed with it - if he goes from escort to outright "purchase" i may not have anymore-LOL
Hopefully there will be another "light and Kabbalah" article here in a bit- it seems i have a weak connection this am so crossing my fingers- I too hide from the "light" this time of year in Az!!!!!!
all the best to you my friend and thanks for stopping by!!!!!!

Hahahaha - I am glad I have kept blogging thru thick and thin alone Michael because you all make me laugh and smile so much!!!!!!!!
unfortunately - haha the wealthy dude isn't Hayward-LOL - had it been i woulda instructed "N" to do a little somepin somepin special to the bloke in Europa - like perhaps shoving him under a passing tube train!!!!!!!!!!! :-)
all the best to you and Var my friend and thanks so much for stopping by!!!!!!!

Hey Alex- the smiles continue - I am actually with the "Blight" on America now -LOL- I have had some cool wvs lately - sometimes they seem uncanny - haha the last time I was at Gosporn I was wondering if to post my comment or not because the wv was "morown" =moron :-)
love ya sis and thanks so much for stopping by!!!!!!!!!!!!