Hubble Bubble

7,100 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, a star is blowing bubbles. The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured a picture of this giant gas discharge. When I consider the heavens, the work of God's fingers, the moon and the stars that He has set in their appropriate places, I must ask, "Why does God consider humans to be His crowning creation?" "How is it that we are the creatures that are made in His image?" "Why would He sacrifice so much for so tiny a portion of His creation?" "Why has He exalted earth and its tiny human population to such a height that we are considered just a little lower than the Godhead?"

A picture such as this generates a sense of awe and mystery. As people consider the immensity of the universe, they typically have one of two reactions: they are either drawn to admire and praise a Creator who could fashion such beauty, or they consider that the universe is so big and we are so small that humans could not possibly be important. Pause for a moment and ask yourself, “How do I feel when I see this Hubble bubble picture?” “How do I feel toward God?”

  1

Psalm 8 (NLT)

¹ O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
    Your glory is higher than the heavens.
² You have taught children and infants
    to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
    and all who oppose you.

³ When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
    the moon and the stars you set in place—
⁴ what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
    human beings that you should care for them?
⁵ Yet you made them only a little lower than God
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You gave them charge of everything you made,
    putting all things under their authority—
⁷ the flocks and the herds
    and all the wild animals,
⁸ the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
    and everything that swims the ocean currents.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

1. Image source: Science News; "Hubble telescope snaps stunning picture for its 26th birthday"; 2016-04-22;  https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/hubble-telescope-snaps-stunning-pic-its-26th-birthday?tgt=nr

The Dance of the Planets

 (Photo credit: Universe Today)

I have continued to enjoy the movements of Venus, Jupiter, and Mars. This particular conjunction of planets has now inspired my imagination for several weeks. Each morning I look to the east around five or six am to see if it is clear enough to see this amazing display. The relative arrangement of the three planets and the bright star, Regulus, are slightly different each day and change from hour to hour. The rate at which each one rises in the morning is dependent not only on the spin of our earth but also the movement of the planets in their orbits relative to earth’s position in her orbit around the sun. I am intrigued each day to see where each planet appears relative to the others. I am always amazed by the slightly red hue of Mars as seen from earth. This red colour is thought to be caused by the scattering of red photons in the atmosphere of Mars. The soil of Mars contains much iron that turns to a rusty red colour due to oxidation and the dust of this red iron is kicked up into her atmosphere by surface winds.

I can see why the Psalmist was inspired to write poetry about his observations of the night sky. May we never lose our sense of awe about the planets and stars.

Psalm 8 (NLT)

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument.

¹ O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
    Your glory is higher than the heavens.
² You have taught children and infants
    to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
    and all who oppose you.

³ When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
    the moon and the stars you set in place—
⁴ what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
    human beings that you should care for them?
⁵ Yet you made them only a little lower than God
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You gave them charge of everything you made,
    putting all things under their authority—
⁷ the flocks and the herds
    and all the wild animals,
⁸ the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
    and everything that swims the ocean currents.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

(Photo credit: Universe Today)

Tiny Cells and Large Planets

In the last week, two articles caught my attention and contributed to my sense of wonder. One article spoke of new microscope techniques for viewing very small chemical processes inliving cells. The other article was about images taken of very large objects: the planets and dwarf planets in our solar system. We live in an amazing era in which we are able to see both ends of this spectrum of size. Now of course, there are objects much larger than planets that we can see: large stars, cloud nebulae, and galaxies; and there are objects much smaller than cells, some of which we can see and some of which we can infer from the properties of matter: DNA strands, individual molecules, atoms, electrons, and quarks. For thousands of years, humans sat out under the skies and looked at the sun, moon, and stars and wondered what they were and what they would look like close up. This mystery of the heavens struck people with awe and led them to theological and philosophical thinking. They also looked down at their bodies and noted that they were “fearfully and wonderfully made.” When they cut their hands and saw blood they wondered what it was and how the body healed itself.

Today, we have much more collective data than our great-grandparents and ancestors before that. Yet, there is still much mystery in the world and in our universe. To what theological and philosophical thoughts are we now inclined? Do we have as much wisdom as our ancestors? Sometimes, because we can explain that Jupiter is a planet and not a star, and can understand how it stays in orbit around our sun, we think that we have no more need for explanation. We might think that we know most of what there is to know about Jupiter. What of the deeper questions? Why is Jupiter there? Philosophically, we might ask, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” Theologically, we might ask, “Why is there a Jupiter – since, as far as we know, there is nothing living out there?” Why, indeed, are there other galaxies filled with billions of stars and billions of planets?

There are some in the world who would suggest that because we can see biological processes working in a cell and can explain how a living being functions that we have no need of philosophy or theology or a reference to a God to understand the nature of our existence. Certainly this attitude is short-sighted. Even if we were to adequately explain the essence of life and consciousness, being able to imagine a world in which no God was necessary does not preclude His existence. I would suggest that we are still far from an adequate understanding of what constitutes life and we have barely scratched the surface of an understanding of consciousness. We see much, we have much information, we have a great deal of understanding; yet, what we don’t see, don’t know, and don’t understand, far outweighs what we do see, know, and understand.

It makes sense that we express a large degree of humility in recognizing that we don’t have all of the answers. Perhaps the best way forward is to develop our best understanding of who we are, why we are here, and whether or not there is a God to whom we answer. We can each lay out principles by which we will live while looking to others for guidance. Then, we humbly hold to these understandings and principles of life until such time as things shake us from that approach to life and we find that we must embrace a different understanding that better fits our present knowledge.

There is little room for hubris or self-sufficiency. Every person on this planet must admit to incomplete knowledge of life and the universe. May we rejoice in what we do know and may we humbly walk alongside each other teaching and learning as we go.

What is it made of?

As a curious person, I often ask the question, "What is that made of?" Today's blog will take us on a journey as we ask this question about plastic. One of the simplest forms of plastic is polyethylene. The chemical formula for this molecule is (C2H4)nH2. The type of polyethylene varies with the value of n.

(You can click on any of these images for another view.)

So, this plastic is made up of carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms. Carbon atoms are made of six neutrons, 6 protons, and 6 electrons while hydrogen atoms are made of one proton and one electron.

 

Neutrons are made of two "up" quarks and one "down" quark while protons are made of one "up" quark and two "down" quarks. Electrons are made of . . . well . . . electrons. At this point, we believe electrons to be indivisible quantum particles, just like "up," "down," and other types of quarks. On the other hand, another theory is that all of these elementary particles would be better modeled as vibrating strings. But we will save the discussion of that theory for another day.

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Cern are discovering that quarks can interact and form intermediary groupings of two, three, and four quarks. Recently a particular particle containing four quarks was discovered by analyzing the products of multiple collisions in the LHC. So, the next time someone asks you the component parts of something, ask them how far down they would like to go. This universe continues to inspire awe in the one who created it.

Stars

I am feeling the need to take a trip to a place where I can see a large number of stars at once. Every once in a while I get this sense and I have learned to listen to this call of my spirit. I find I need to periodically make time for seeing the stars. It renews my sense of awe and mystery. It reminds me how small we are. It reminds us that this planet on which we reside circles around a star not unlike the thousands we see dappling the sky. It reminds me that God has a much bigger plan than just my little life.

Seeing the stars of course requires that I get away from the light pollution of large cities. It is not as easy as it once was but it is still possible to find places with a decent view of the cosmos. In the rural community in which I grew up we readily saw stars, northern lights, and other stellar majesty on any clear night. But 40 years later light pollution threatens to obliterate the view in the countryside as well. Now that I live in Vancouver I will plan to take a short trip up the north coast on a clear night. There, using the mountains to block out the glow of the highly populated lower mainland, I should be able to get some good views. It will be good for my soul.

The value of staring at the heavens in awe, as most of us used to be able to do, is tremendously under-rated. You can feel that sense of wonder and smallness; the inexplicable understanding that there is so much more that we cannot understand. There is a huge difference between a culture that is humbled by the stars and one which lets you think you are one.1

(Click on the photo for a larger image.)



1 Peter Menzies in The Cardus Daily, http://www.cardus.ca/blog/2013/03/in-defence-of-star-gazing?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=Comment%20Weekly

Flannery O'Connor on Mystery

"I don't think literature would be possible in a determined world. We might go through the motions but the heart would be out of it. Nobody could then 'smile darkly and ignore the howls.' Even if there were no Church to teach me this, writing two novels would do it. I think the more you write, the less inclined you will be to rely on theories like determinism. Mystery isn't something that is gradually evaporating. It grows along with knowledge.” - Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor wrote these words as our culture was just beginning to move to a greater degree of determinism. She died in 1964 and The Habit of Being was published in 1979.

Cape Breton Island

My wife and I just returned from a week of vacation in Nova Scotia. We particularly enjoyed our time on Cape Breton Island traversing the Ceilidh trail and Cabot Trail. Nova Scotia is a proud land with a noble history. Scottish Highlanders, with their distinctive Scottish Gaelic language, were cleared out of the Highlands of Scotland by English landowners in the 18th and 19th centuries. Pictou, Nova Scotia received the first wave of immigrants from Scotland on September 15, 1773. About 200 people arrived on a small sailing ship called the Hector. It's full size replica still sits in Pictou Harbour.

The Highlanders who landed in Nova Scotia (New Scotland) had to work hard to overcome the hardships of the land. They fished and farmed; grew flax to make linen cloth; raised sheep; built homes and tamed the land. They developed their own traditions, maintained the Gaelic language, and sang and played music everywhere they lived. They had songs that were sung while they milled cloth (milling frolic music), they sang while they milked cows, planted crops, and any other work they might have done. They brought with them the bag-pipe but adapted many bag-pipe reels, jigs, and strathspeys for the fiddle. The bag-pipe influence is still evident in the music of Cape Breton Island. Families passed down the knowledge of the family tunes and fathers taught their children to play the fiddle the way their father had taught them. To this day, you can tell what family or locality the player is from by the style of the fiddler and the way he taps his foot. Kitchen parties, or Ceilidhs (pronounced Cay-lee) held in the evenings were important ways that knowledge was passed from one generation to the next. Stories were told, good hearted arguments about the right way to play a tune or a note occurred, and the social fabric of the society was maintained.

Life was hard for these early settlers but hard work saw them through. In contemporary times, Nova Scotia has suffered more hardship. Unregulated fishing of cod and haddock allowed unsustainable numbers of fish to be taken out of the Atlantic resulting in the collapse of the cod and haddock industry. Government shut down all cod fishing to allow the numbers to return but twenty years later there are still few cod and haddock in the Scotian Shelf. Scientists believe that the ecosystem has been permanently changed by the overfishing. Today, a lobster season and a crab fishing season are the only fishing available to those who used to fish the mighty Atlantic sea. Much of the area relies upon tourism from May through early September and jobs are hard to find. Some bed and breakfast businesses and restaurant owners spoke of how many young people have become dependent on employment insurance cheques.

Nova Scotia exports most of its East Coast musicians, adding to the economic problems of the region. Many bands and artists write songs and adapt them for commercial markets but eventually make their way to the larger centres like Toronto or Nashville. Our travels through the Ceilidh trail were rich with music. Many restaurants and pubs featured live music by local artists. Some was traditional and some was contemporary folk music.

Jimmy Rankin from Mabou, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island (part of the Ceilidh Trail) writes of the sadness and loss of his home. His song called "Running Home" has references to his longing for home and how he must travel but he will always be "chasing home." The final three stanzas have a different style and tune and speak of the former glory of his home and how they have lost much: "Northern winds got the best of us; sure made a mess of us; hope they're not the death of us."

Running Home (Lyrics and music by Jimmy Rankin)

Say goodbye to the city nights
Now I need the northern lights and the changes
Gotta trade the bars for stars
Haven't seen your face in while must be ages

I'm always gonna be chasing highways
I'm always gonna be chasing highways
Home
Running home
Home
But I'm running home

This place is full of memories
Some of them of my younger days running carefree
I'm far away from the scene back there
Far away from the space I care deep inside me

I'm always gonna be chasing highways
I'm always gonna be chasing highways
Home
Running home
Home
But I'm running home

Trading tunes until daylight
Many times I burned up the night getting crazy
Tired of the scene back there
Back again to a space I care all around me

Home
Running home

(silence)

This ain't much, just a little note to you
I miss your touch and everything you used to do
You're miles away from where you used to be
Northern winds got the best of you
Sure made a mess of you

Can't go back to the place that was before
The past is past and no one lives there anymore
There're miles away from where it used to be
Northern winds got the best of them
Sure made a mess of them

This ain't much but I had to make it clear
I'll spread my wings and I'll disappear
To miles away from where I used to be
Northern winds got the best of us
Sure made a mess of us
Northern winds got the best of us
Sure made a mess of us
Hope they're not the death of us.

I too desire to see this proud land "Rise Again." May we live to see the rise of proud Cape Bretoners once again.

Images

It occurred to me that my blog has been pretty serious lately. Perhaps it is time to inject a bit of fun and beauty. Here are a few images from downtown Vancouver. Click on the photos to enlarge.
















This picture says so much about Vancouver: condos, new construction, mountains, SkyTrain tracks, East Van Cross.







Construction of the new retractable roof on BC Place. A close-up.










Construction in the distance.



Rainy night in Vancouver.