Mutual Influence of the Metaphysical and Physical

By: Ziauddin Ahmed

Family of the Heart - DIALOGUE & DISCUSSIONS 

Deism - Revelation

Mr. Feroz Karmally,

Your effort to prove “God Exists, is based on two different Beliefs. The one that you call the “Scientific approach” is nothing but “Deism”. The other part is the use of the Truth of the verses of the Holy Book. This Truth is based on “Revelation”.

“Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme natural God exists and created the physical universe, and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason and observation of the natural world. Deists generally reject the notion of supernatural revelation as a basis of truth or religious dogma. These views contrast with the dependence on divine revelation found in Judaic, Christian and Islamic teachings.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism)

Following Deism, you have considered one example of Physics (Atom) and one of Metaphysics (Cosmology). These examples are used to point out the perpetual movements of atoms and heavenly bodies in orbits and rotation (spin) at a fixed axis. You talk of “Millions of Atoms”, “Billions of Stars” and “Trillion of Galaxies”. These big numbers sound exact but they do not convey your correct knowledge of these objects. You could have simply said that they are so many that one can not count and thus would have accepted the limitation of human physical power and his intellectual capacities.

In your posts, you talk of a “fixed orbit”. Now what is a fixed orbit? Does it mean that an electron in an atom of hydrogen is perpetually tracing the same path around the nucleus? It is not true. We simply know that the electron will be moving around a spherical constant energy surface. The circular orbit that it will trace is “Unknown” and it can not be predetermined.

The rotational movement on a fixed axis (spin) is not the same of all heavenly bodies. The earth has a spin of one rotation per 24 hours whereas the moon makes one spin rotation in 27.32 days! The earth makes its one day rotation in front of the sun whereas the moon makes a complete spin rotation because of its orbital movement around the earth in 27.32 days.

The moon-like spin we make every time we go around a circle. The earth-like spin is common in dances like waltz and Turning Durwaish. In spite of this simplicity of spin we do not understand what are all the gravitational forces acting on a given planet or star because our knowledge beyond our own universe is very limited and alas limited it will remain.

It is entirely possible that the man-made satellites moving around the earth and the changing of the earth surface itself will affect the earth spin. The recent studies show that the earth rotation has slowed down and it takes more that 24 hours to complete its rotation. So, for spin movement nothing is sure or predetermined and remains “Unknown”

These two examples are certainly the Proof of a limited physical and mental capacity of a human but not the existence of the Creator Himself.

An individual is free to extend this limit of the “Unknown” towards infinity (God) and claim He exists. This God is the personal God of the person who claims “He is”. In this case the question asked by Khalid :

Do you BELIEVE IN HIM like other believers do or you KNOW HIM like many mystics or prophets claim after they have spiritual encounters?”,

becomes interesting and pertinent. I will further add “scientific” just after the “spiritual”.

Prof. Albert Einstein did not practice any religion or bothered of God till the age of 50, Around this age he settled into a deism based on what he called the "spirit manifest in the laws of the universe" and a sincere belief in a "God who reveals Himself in the harmony of all that exists."

As far as I know, he never claimed that “God Exists” nor he did any calculation nor wrote any equation to prove the existence of God. His relation with the Creator was limited to a sincere “Belief”. A “belief” (no matter how sincere) in something is not the proof of its existence.

For the use of Quranic verses in an argument, I have not much to say. In my opinion if a statement is true (false) on the basis of arguments then any citation will not make it more true (false) or change it into false (true).

Sincerely,

Strasbourg (France) 

ahsan@noos.fr

April 06, 2009

 

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