The God Particle: Higgs Boson is God?

The Higgs Boson walks into a bar wearing a t-shirt saying “God Particle”.

“Wass that?” asks the barman.

The Higgs Boson almost blinks off. “Where have you been? I am the God Particle. The world is agog with my discovery.”

“Eh?”

“You moron. I am the basis of the universe. I am the goddam base that gives substance to everything else.”

“Substance to what; base what?” The barman is genuinely puzzled. For all he sees is the t-shirt hanging on a black framework of subdued ethereal glow that threatens to go out and leave the t-shirt hanging in mid air.

The Higgs Boson sputters, pouts a pout that cannot be seen and orders a round of drinks for all the elements of the period table. The poor barmen is bamboozled and threats to resign from life.

The jokes edition of the ‘discovery’ of the Higgs Boson is making its rounds on the internet and the laughs are a plenty. Yet, for all the merriment – starting with the discovery announcement being heralded in Comic Sans font – the seriousness of this discovery cannot be understated. (The Higgs Bososn: Jokes edition can be found here - http://storify.com/notscientific/higgs-boson-the-jokes-edition)

Here is a particle, predicted over 40 years ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, that particle physics says is the basis of the universe. Its entrapment in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN gives us a glimpse on how the universe works. It is called the God Particle, although scientists themselves would prefer to call it the ‘goddamned particle’ – for the obvious reason that it is the most elusive of any sub-atomic particle that they have any specific knowledge of.

The elemental Stephen Hawking actually bet $100 that the Higgs Boson would never be trapped, so sure he was of its non-existence. This month he conceded defeat and paid up to Gordon Kane of the University of Michigan.

All and good in the rarefied fields of science but what does it mean for the man on the street? Zilch.

The world, or in this case, the universe goes on as before. What scientists have done is tap in another set of information about the way things work – putting firmly in place a structure of better understanding the processes of the universe. They have come just a little bit closer to understanding why almost all of the universe is beyond the observations of the likes of you and me.

What this means is:
1. The Universe is a gridwork of mass – 90 percent of which we cannot observe. The little we observe actually forms a minute part of the great mass.
2. Something is forming the base for this huge mass of planets, galaxies, stars and other heavenly bodies and the Higgs Boson could be it.
3. The universe is made of particles which by rights should be free-agents zipping all over the place. Yet something gives them mass and the culprit is seen as the Higgs Boson.
4. The Higgs Boson has a short life – we are not talking mayflies here. It lasts for one millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Apparently this is the reason it is so goddamned hard to trap. Evidence of its existence is seen by what it leaves behind in the collider rather than its actual capture.
5. The Higgs field theory explains why some elementary particles have mass – suggesting that a unseen field permeates all of space and the Higgs Boson is the smallest possible activity in that field.

It is easier to understand that an unseen field permeates space – or is it? I just hark back to what the ancients say of this and it makes perfect sense to me.

In explaining the universe, Hindus first talk of its vastness. The root ‘Brh’ means to swell, expand or enlarge. Brahman, accepted by Hindus as the actuality of godhead, the ultimate reality, the absolute, is the basis of the universe. It is the force/power/energy that permeates the universe, giving it its form and energy.

Originally – when science had just discovered the atom – Brahman was denoted as the vastest of the vast and smallest of the small, in this case the atom.

With the discovery of sub atomic elements and particles, the smallest of the small becomes the sub atomic particles. Now with the discovery of the

Right – so I am riding the crest of scientific discovery and adopting it as part of my religion. So, sue me. Big deal.

The fact remains that the ancients knew of the existence of this unseen field upon which the rest of the universe carries out its works.

This from the Upanishads.

1. Brahman is the one Absolute Reality behind the changing appearances of the universe.
2. Brahamis the universal substrate from which material things originate and to which they return after dissolution.
3. Sarvam khalv idam brahma - Brahman is everything, and all we see are His different energies — material or spiritual
4. Brahman contains within it the potentiality and archetypes behind all possible manifest phenomenal forms.
5. Brahman is the reality behind everything in this universe, the cause which sustains the effect.
6. Brahman is the ultimate essence of material phenomena

So, what does this mean in the grand scheme of things? Again, zilch.

Brahman cannot be worshipped, only understood. Its workings are beyond the ken of man – just like the Higgs Boson. As science strives to understand the Higgs Boson, the followers of Brahman try to do the same. The only difference is that one is material striving, the other spiritual.

Science now appears to know of this particle that imbues others with some potential and is seeking to understand it more. I can’t wait for more. It just validates what I have learnt as a follower of the religions.

But most religions are getting defensive over the discovery – finger pointing about science setting out to destroy religion is happening all over the world.

The only thing I can say to that is: “Why would God – the omnipresent, the omniscient and the omnipotent – require to be defended? Especially by the likes of puny humans.”

Leave be – get on with your faith, and leave the faith of science alone. They have done great in making the lives of human better – why not allow them a little fun in making a discovery any Hindu (with a little thinking) already knows?

Or maybe it is just an over-reaction to the nickname. Some see the Higgs Boson’s nickname as the God Particle as a direct attack on faith in God.

If the particle had been nicknamed Nick, it may not have aroused so much antipathy amongst the religious.

So, Nick walks into the bar and says “I am Higgs Boson.”. The Barman would probably say: “What are you having, Mr Boson?”

An analogy:

For decades, experts have been trying to come up with analogies to illustrate how the Higgs mechanism works. One of the best-known was proposed in 1993 by David Miller, a physicist at University College London. Imagine looking down from a balcony in a ballroom, watching a cocktail party below. When just plain folks try to go from one end of the room to the other, they can walk through easily, with no resistance from the party crowd. But when a celebrity like Justin Bieber shows up, other partygoers press around him so tightly that he can hardly move ... and once he moves, the crowd moves with him in such a way that the whole group is harder to stop.

The partygoers are like Higgs bosons, the just plain folks are like massless particles, and Bieber is like a massive Z boson

Why we need to suffer

Or how to be objective about ourselves

We may wish evil on others, but never do we wish evil on ourselves, (or for those we care about). Yet, we suffer evil, wickedness and setbacks in our lives on a very regular basis. And compared to the upsides, the downside of life appears to dominate our whole life.

Most times we pass over whatever negative things that happen to us by either blaming others for our misfortune, or - when we can’t find someone to blame - blaming providence/God/karma for this unpleasant situation that we are going through.

A novel approach to this constant good/bad state of affairs that we call life would be to actually start welcoming the idea that ‘bad’ things should happen to us. What a stupid idea, you say? But if we believe in karma, and believe that we are on Earth to work out our karma from previous lives, why should we not want to get over it quickly?

Given the choice, what would anyone like to do? Would you spread your bad karma over several more lives or spend one life cleaning up all your bad karma and then setting yourself up to expand on your good karma in another life?

Karma, of course, is not anything like a 25-year home mortgage, a painless payment that almost goes unnoticed as we go about living our lives. Each time karma extracts its ‘repayment’ it does so with an acute emotional strike, somewhat like a hatchet job on our mental state. This seesaws between deep anguish and euphoria – both of which are extremely unstable mental states.

If we choose the first where a little karma is paid off bit by bit, let’s be prepared for a mediocre life of a mixture of good and bad, ups and downs (possibly a one step forward, two steps back type of life) until several lifetimes later, we are finally ready for the ‘good’ life, a life of doing good and saving up good karma until you are done on Earth.

If we choose to telescope our karma in a much shorter timeframe (and yes, we can make that choice) be prepared for some heavy duty karmic action that will sledgehammer us into a tattered life. This is free will but not as we understand it. Here we have a choice in how we choose to live our next life, a choice made by us before we take rebirth, and a choice just as easily forgotten when we actually take birth.

We are the makers our own destiny - our holy scriptures are very clear on this. And this choice of making our own destiny allows us to choose our life events before our birth. The garland of karma one wears through birth and death and rebirth is malleable. It can switched around to set up a life of events for each birth. We could choose to ‘live it up’ with your good karma in one lifetime, shunting off bad karma to another life time, or vice versa.

For example, say we were a cruel landlord in a previous life, prone to narcissism, arrogance and being ‘right’ all the time. In this birth (because of some good we did previously) we are ‘given’ a home with an average household. We go through a series of setbacks all through our life and it appears to be unending. Everything we touch crumbles, every project we undertake fizzles out, every move we make ends up harming us.

Did we, in the presence of our rebirth, choose to look at our karma in total honesty and string together a series of events to make us ‘realise’ the folly of our past deeds in the preceding lifetime? Did we, in total honesty, deem ourselves ready for a lesson in humility, understanding and compassion – something we lacked very much in the life we just had?

Probably yes – our forefathers were clear on this, giving us many adages and folklore to tell us of how karma determines our birth and lifestyle, how it can mould us into what we are and how it can be used to free ourselves from our karmic debt.

They also said we are unaware of this debt as the essence of the karma is all that we bring with us in our new life, not its memory. The memory of this collective karma sometimes penetrates the veil that enshrouds it but that is only occasionally. In general we start our new birth unaware of these consequences and what we have planned with them. There is a good reason for this – if we were aware of what was to happen to us while working out our karma, our egos most probably won’t be able to take it.

In working out our karma, we have options – curse our life/our birth, curse the people involved (it is because of them!) or accept our karma for what it is and look at our life objectively. (Please remember that karma is not fate. Fate - as non-Hindus understand it - is a notion of predestination that says everything is mapped out for you and you have no say in the matter).

Our ancient scripts lays out the way to observe ourself in an objective manner. Before looking at this, let’s familiarise ourselves with two words.

Thithiksha (fortitude) vs Sahana (patience)

Sahana is the ability to tolerate things, to be able to put up with disagreeable things. This is largely because we don’t have a choice in the matter. It is beyond our control – that is why we have no choice but to practice sahana. For example, we are in a situation in which, through no fault of ours, we lose out – be it a job, a partner, a project, a deal, whatever. Why does this happen when we did everything right? Why should someone ‘less deserving’ get it and we can’t? This is something we appear not to have any control over. Either we grin and bear it (showing patience in an intractable situation) or we lash out, making more ‘new’ karma in the bargain.

We can put all such events down to plain bad luck, nepotism, unfairness, a short shrift from providence. Or we can see it for what it actually is – a past event in a previous life that needed to be worked out in this life.

The better way to tackle the downside of karmic potshots is to have fortitude (Thithiksha). Fortitude is having the capacity to overcome an ongoing karmic situation, but yet, disregarding it. Allow the situation to happen, be aware of what is happening but do not react. It is in reacting that we exacerbate a situation, gleaning more karma in the process.

Fortitude involves looking at our lives in an objective manner. The scriptures offer several ways to attain to this mental state.

1. Feeling the presence of something beyond yourself.

Call it God or nature or any super normal being – The idea is to feel something beyond yourself, either through silence or in a conducive environment. Keeping silent for long periods of time allows the mind to un-tether itself from the senses, thus giving it an opportunity sees things for what they are. Establishing yourself in a quiet environment helps do the same thing – your senses are not working overtime and this allows the mind to slow down and gather its wits for searching objectively through the tirade of thoughts it normally endures. That is why the scriptures call for meditation and keeping ourselves away from the ‘marketplace’ as essential to knowing our Self.

2. Meditating to understand the thought process.

This is done by isolating thoughts from each other. Generally we believe thoughts run on as a continuous thread. We think of this as a process – we believe the ongoing thoughts in our minds is who we are. When we aggressively withdraw ourselves from the process, we start seeing thoughts as individual snippets, and by doing so, we become a witness to both their creation and to their individual progression. This process of becoming a witness to the thinking process allows us to divorce ourselves from the process and see us for who we really are – the witness.

3. Direct self analysis. Seeing ourselves for what we really are.

The bundle of thoughts, habits and traits that make up our personality/ego is not what we really are. To know this one must undertake the cruellest task of all – the honest appraisal of one self. The ego resides under layers and layers of contrived thinking that are like the stones of a fortress. Through a honest approach these bricks or traits can be destroyed, revealing the ego for what it is – a bundle of personality traits.

There are many other ways – losing ourselves in devotion to a chosen deity; losing ourselves in good works/social works; caring for our parents; seeing everything as a spark of the divine. The list is endless but all have one common ground - losing yourself in the doing of it and not asking for any reward or fruit thereof of the action. For as soon as you ask for the payment of the deed, it is not a spiritual deed but a trade-off and it doesn’t work.

Fortitude comes about when we have understood why we act as we do, and this leads to tackling anything that life (or our karma) springs on us. As we witness the emergence of thoughts, so shall we witness the emergence of our karmic deeds, and see them for what they really are.

And what are karmic deeds?

They are our teachers, offering lessons to be learnt and opportunities to realign our lives. They are our makers and can be our ‘destroyers’ if we don’t handle them with fortitude. These are the laws of action and its consequences, and need to be understood from a logical point of view. If we can think through the consequence of each of actions rather than just reacting to them, we can both understand and control our action and the karma it generates.

And so it comes to what I said before – why not ask to have suffering so we get over it quickly? And go on to better things.

If suffering/karma is an important part of our purpose, that teaches us how to overcome adversity and making us stronger, smarter, why not say :”Bring it on and let’s be done with it.” After all, there isn’t much time until we die, and we do want something different in our next life, don’t we?

Notes

Destiny and the Divine Power of Love

Although the word "karma” is Sanskrit and is associated with Eastern religions, it simply refers to the law of cause and effect. Karma is not blind destiny or divine judgment, but is the principle the describes the natural reverberation that emerges from every action, whether that action is physical, emotion, mental, or spiritual.

Suffering and pain are not punishment from a tyrant God, nor are they "normal” or mere "coincidence.” When we truly understand the law of action and consequence, we can see that our lives are a result of our own moment to moment ignorance of the effects of our actions. We create our own suffering, therefore, we can create our own happiness instead, if we know how. No matter what religion or background we come from, through conscious action from moment to moment, we can originate a new set of causes, which in turn will generate a new set of results. This is how we can revolutionize our life. The power to change is in our hands.

Karma is Negotiable by Nikias Annas

Some karma quotes

Give up your selfishness, and you shall find peace; like water mingling with water, you shall merge in absorption.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Unknown

Contrary to popular misconception, karma has nothing to do with punishment and reward. It exists as part of our holographic universe's binary or dualistic operating system only to teach us responsibility for our creations-and all things we experience are our creations.

Sol Luckman

We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Work done with selfish motives is inferior by far to the selfless service or Karma-yoga. Therefore be a Karma-yogi, O Arjuna. Those who seek [to enjoy] the fruits of their work are verily unhappy [because one has no control over the results].

Bhagavad Gita

A man who sees action in inaction and inaction in action has understanding among men and discipline in all action he performs.

Bhagavad Gita

The person whose mind is always free from attachment, who has subdued the mind and senses, and who is free from desires, attains the supreme perfection of freedom from Karma through renunciation.

Bhagavad Gita

As the blazing fire reduces wood to ashes, similarly, the fire of Self-knowledge reduces all Karma to ashes.

Bhagavad Gita

When you lose, do not lose the lesson.

Dalai Lama

Sometimes not getting what you want is an amazing stroke of luck.

Dalai Lama



How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

Wayne Dyer



If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Wayne Dyer



http://www.lexiyoga.com/karma-quotes

God quotes

Any fool can count the seeds in an apple. Only God can count all the apples in one seed. ~Robert H. Schuller

Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway. ~Mary C. Crowley

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us. ~St. Augustine

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God. ~James Weldon Johnson

God understands our prayers even when we can't find the words to say them. ~Author Unknown

What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~Eleanor Powell

A man with God is always in the majority. ~John Knox

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. ~Victor Hugo

You can tell the size of your God by looking at the size of your worry list. The longer your list, the smaller your God. ~Author Unknown

Maybe the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman. ~Author Unknown

If God had wanted to be a big secret, He would not have created babbling brooks and whispering pines. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com

I don't know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn't. ~Jules Renard

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. ~C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through. ~Edna St. Vincent Millay

God is not a cosmic bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things done. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick

The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too. ~Teresa of Avila

God's last name is not "Dammit." ~Author Unknown

Once one has seen God, what is the remedy? ~Sylvia Plath, "Mystic"

As the poet said, "Only God can make a tree" - probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on. ~Woody Allen

Clearly, God is a Democrat. ~Patrick Caddell

God: The most popular scapegoat for our sins. ~Mark Twain

But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things. ~Vincent van Gogh, Dear Theo: An Autobiography of Vincent van Gogh, 1937

No matter how much I prove and prod,

I cannot quite believe in God;

But oh, I hope to God that He

Unswervingly believes in me.

~E.Y. Harburg, attributed

People see God every day, they just don't recognize him. ~Pearl Bailey

How tired God must be of guilt and loneliness, for that is all we ever bring to Him. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

God's will is not an itinerary, but an attitude. ~Andrew Dhuse

Let God's promises shine on your problems. ~Corrie Ten Boom

I just hope God does not get bored of dreaming me. ~Author Unknown

By night, an atheist half believes in God. ~Edward Young, Night Thoughts

Experience has repeatedly confirmed that well-known maxim of Bacon's that "a little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." At the same time, when Bacon penned that sage epigram... he forgot to add that the God to whom depth in philosophy brings back men's minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them. ~George Santayana

When I saw others straining toward God, I did not understand it, for though I may have had him less than they did, there was no one blocking the way between him and me, and I could reach his heart easily. It is up to him, after all, to have us, our part consists of almost solely in letting him grasp us. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke and Benvenuta: An Intimate Correspondence

God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa