© 2003 John Lehee
© 2003 Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d'Urantia
| Le Lien Urantien — Issue 25 — Spring 2003 — Contents | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 25 — Spring 2003 | Ignorance |
The Urantia Book conveys a very large amount of scientific information. This data is often very specific and it is interesting to compare it to the assertions of current science.
On some sites on the Internet, some people claim that the Fifth Epochal Revelation sometimes contains errors in its scientific statements.
Regarding these developments, the Revealers tell us:
4. THE LIMITS OF REVELATION
Because your world is generally ignorant of origins, even of physical origins, it has appeared to be wise from time to time to provide instruction in cosmology. And always has this made trouble for the future. The laws of revelation hamper us greatly by their proscription of the impartation of unearned or premature knowledge. Any cosmology presented as a part of revealed religion is destined to be outgrown in a very short time. Accordingly, future students of such a revelation are tempted to discard any element of genuine religious truth it may contain because they discover errors on the face of the associated cosmologies therein presented.
Because your world is generally ignorant of origins, even of physical origins, it has appeared to be wise from time to time to provide instruction in cosmology. And always has this made trouble for the future. The laws of revelation hamper us greatly by their proscription of the impartation of unearned or premature knowledge. Any cosmology presented as a part of revealed religion is destined to be outgrown in a very short time. Accordingly, future students of such a revelation are tempted to discard any element of genuine religious truth it may contain because they discover errors on the face of the associated cosmologies therein presented. (UB 101:4.1)
One might think that we should not take the scientific explanations of the celestial Authors literally and that we should avoid, for example, doing like fundamentalist Christians who read the biblical book of Genesis literally.
But are the expositions of the Urantia Book to be put on the same level as the texts of the Bible?
No, I honestly don’t think so.
The Revealers were very limited in their work and therefore did not reveal everything because Man must discover for himself the mechanisms of the Universe.
And I find it hard to believe that the Revelators deliberately revealed errors under the pretext of dissuading us from making the book a fetish as some people sometimes suggest, or from sticking to the achievements of science at the beginning of the century. I could illustrate this last case by giving the example of chromosomes (which will be the subject of a paragraph) where I do not think that the Revelators told us that our cells contained 48 under the pretext that the science of the time saw 48. At UB 36:2.11, the celestial authors do not speak to us of chromosomes but of archetypal control units.
First, if there are certain things that do not agree with science, it is likely because said science is not infallible.
And as we have read, The Urantia Book does not reveal everything. Thus, the explanations provided by the Celestial Authors are, at times, simply not complete. And I think that it is in this sense, and only in this sense, that there can be errors.
You must then, and above all, read certain passages very carefully, otherwise you may have the impression of dealing with supposed errors.
Here is some personal research that I was able to carry out, with the help of articles from different scientific publications, on certain questions that The Urantia Book may raise.
I would like to point out that I do not have scientific training and of course I do not claim to understand and explain everything concerning these aspects of the Fifth Epochal Revelation and science.
But I am providing here some thoughts, hypotheses and an interpretation of some passages which may subsequently provide more information and understanding on these subjects to other interested readers and to myself.
In the first part, I will discuss artificial chemical elements with more than one hundred electrons (I); in the second part I will focus on chromosomes (II); in the third part, I will focus on the effects of gravitational influences on spatial bodies (III); finally I will end with a development concerning the age of the Universe (IV).
[Warning: In this part, I will only make an interpretation of the text of 42:7.7 and a comparison with the few data that I was able to collect on these physical phenomena. In-depth knowledge of a specialist on this subject is necessary if we want to advance in understanding this paragraph. I approached this theme after reading some comments from American readers who saw contradictions with science, while it seems to me that this paragraph can completely agree with current knowledge.]
In Orvonton it has never been possible naturally to assemble over one hundred orbital electrons in one atomic system. When one hundred and one have been artificially introduced into the orbital field, the result has always been the instantaneous disruption of the central proton with the wild dispersion of the electrons and other liberated energies. (UB 42:7.7)
A. An almost instantaneous dislocation.
The term “instantaneous” means “preceding or following without intermediary”, “sudden” or “rapid”.
The 1955 version spoke of “an instantaneous dislocation” of the central proton. The term “quasi” was added in the second edition with the explanation that nothing is “instantaneous” in the physical universe. There would always be a lapse of time regardless of the physical process.
When printing, the term could therefore have been forgotten.
And it is true that on two other occasions The Urantia Book speaks of “quasi-instantaneity” when it discusses the dissolution of the physical body of Jesus, the process of which occurred almost without an intermediary (cf. UB 189:2.4).
B. The central proton and the moment of its dislocation.
It should now be noted that researchers have created atoms with more than 100 electrons whose lifespan is not negligible. These elements belong to the “heavy elements” such as Mendelevium (Md) with 101 electrons and a lifespan of 1.5 hours, Nobelium (No) with 102 electrons and a lifespan of 1.5 hours, Lawrencium (Lr) with 103 electrons and a lifespan of 180 seconds, etc. The dislocation of such an atom is therefore not instantaneous or quasi-instantaneous. Some therefore claim that this paragraph on page 478 is false.
And we can, in fact, ask ourselves a certain number of questions about this passage:
The text speaks to us about the dislocation of the central proton and not of the nucleus of the atom (remember that the proton is one of the particles of the atomic nucleus). The text in fact uses the two expressions distinctly as the description of two different bodies (cf. UB 42:7.2-4).
And whether it is one or the other, this dislocation leads to a decomposition of the entire atom since the text specifies “… and a crazy dispersion of electrons and other released energies.”. Unless this release of energy occurs, itself, after a certain period of time.
The text therefore does not seem to say that the dislocation occurs concomitantly with the addition of the 101st electron.
The story seems to explain what our researchers observe, that is to say an “abrupt” dislocation occurring after a certain period of time following the addition of the electron and not in a “virtually direct” manner upon the addition of the 101th electron.
Two things must also be noted:
C. The confusing behavior of atoms and the notion of time.
After this approach, we must still emphasize the very particular behavior of atoms, which demonstrates the difficulty of a study on this subject.
An atom can be, for example, in different states at the same time.
Using the following analogy, it is as if, in our everyday world, a door could be both open and closed. This puzzling behavior of atoms is also discussed at 42:7.10:
The first twenty-seven atoms, those containing from one to twenty-seven orbital electrons, are more easy of comprehension than the rest. From twenty-eight upward we encounter more and more of the unpredictability of the supposed presence of the Unqualified Absolute. But some of this electronic unpredictability is due to differential ultimatonic axial revolutionary velocities and to the unexplained “huddling” proclivity of ultimatons. Other influences—physical, electrical, magnetic, and gravitational—also operate to produce variable electronic behavior. Atoms therefore are similar to persons as to predictability. Statisticians may announce laws governing a large number of either atoms or persons but not for a single individual atom or person. (UB 42:7.10)
Science also wonders how the classical world in which we live can coexist with the strange microscopic world. And a theory was developed in 1980 by Wojciech Zurech and Murray Gell-Mann (see Science & Vie nº 977, p.39). This is the “decoherence theory” which explains that atoms interact with each other to confuse quantum phenomena and allow our world to be what it is with the laws that we know which contrast so much with those of the infinitely small.
This shows the degree of precision of the Urantia Book on the subject! The Revelators approach the subject at a time when these phenomena were far from obvious.
In addition, recent scientific discoveries demonstrate that time does not exist at the atomic level (see Science & Vie nº 1024, January 2003, p.34, experiment carried out in Geneva, observed and published by Nicolas Gisin, Hugo Zbinden, Valerio Scarani and André Stefanov of the applied physics group at the University of Geneva and by Antoine Suarez, of the Center for Quantum Philosophy in Zurich). Which could also revive the debate on the notion of “instantaneity”…
An article from the journal “Sciences et Avenir”, nº 666, August 2002, p.78, concerning human chromosomes, caught my attention.
Remember that chromosomes are elements of the nucleus of our cells, in the shape of rods, which contain genes, the material supports of heredity.
It should be noted that The Urantia Book only uses the term chromosome once (cf. UB 77:2.5). Otherwise it speaks of “archetypal control units - the determinants of characteristics” (cf. UB 36:2.11). Our cells contain 48 of these units. However, science speaks of 46 chromosomes. There would therefore be 2 units that we do not know.
The article in the aforementioned journal explains the role of a molecule called “histone” which would be (this is a hypothesis) “a second biological code, contained in the proteins which shape DNA into chromosomes”. “Histones are small proteins responsible for packaging DNA.”
We are talking about a second source of information for cells capable of expanding the potential of DNA.
One of the roles of histones would be to “decide whether or not genes should be read by the cellular machinery, depending on the circumstances and the position in the organism occupied by the cell that contains them”. The “histone code” would allow the organism to “manage a memory other than genetic, given that the modifications are perpetuated from generation to generation”. Disorders could also cause “histone” diseases.
Could this be a forty-seventh archetypal control unit? Then there would be one last one missing to discover. But I am only formulating a hypothesis here.
And so we would have 46 chromosomes but 48 archetypal control units in total.
The planets nearest the sun were the first to have their revolutions slowed down by tidal friction. Such gravitational influences also contribute to the stabilization of planetary orbits while acting as a brake on the rate of planetary-axial revolution, causing a planet to revolve ever slower until axial revolution ceases, leaving one hemisphere of the planet always turned toward the sun or larger body, as is illustrated by the planet Mercury and by the moon, which always turns the same face toward Urantia. (UB 57:6.2)
A. The axial rotation of the Moon and Mercury.
Science explains that it is because the Moon always turns on itself and that its axial rotation has slowed down that we always see the same face. Its speed of rotation on its axis is synchronized with its duration of revolution around the Earth, that is to say 29 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes.
As for Mercury, it has also been slowed down in its rotation because of the Sun but does not always present the same face to the Sun because it still rotates too quickly on itself compared to the duration of its revolution around the Sun. A priori, it would present the same characteristics as the Moon in the future when its axial rotation will be even slower since Mercury makes a turn on itself in 58.646 days and makes a revolution around the Sun in 88 days. But other phenomena still come into play because the case of Mercury is very particular.
For further explanation:
Until 1962, astronomers thought that Mercury’s “day” (the rotation period) was the same as its “year” (the revolution period). It was therefore thought that Mercury always presented the same face to the Sun as the Moon does to the Earth. But in 1965, observations made by Doppler radar revealed that Mercury’s rotation period is in fact equal to two-thirds of its revolution period around the Sun.
This very slow rotation is due to the elongated shape of Mercury’s orbit around the Sun. Close to the Sun, the tidal force increases and accelerates the rotation but at this moment, the rotation/revolution interaction slows down the course on the orbit and restores the initial ratio of two thirds. This phenomenon is called the “resonance effect”. This effect produces a unique event in the solar system: the Mercurian solar day lasts two Mercurian years.
To summarize, it is necessary that the body still rotates on itself in synchronization with its period of revolution to present only one face.
B. The presentation of the Revelators.
For some people, The Urantia Book claims that the Moon and Mercury no longer rotate on their own axis, which is false.
The Revealers indicate to us the phenomenon observed by our researchers. That is to say the phenomenon of gravitational force which slows down the axial rotation (until the complete stop in the future) of space bodies illustrated by Mercury and the Moon.
As we have seen, our satellite, still rotating on itself, and having seen its axial rotation slowed down, then always presents the same face to Urantia. Which is not the case for Mercury with respect to the Sun since the text tells us: “… as shown by the examples of the planet Mercury and the Moon, the latter always presenting the same face to Urantia.”.
The Book does not tell us that Mercury always presents the same face to the Sun and that it no longer turns on itself, but that its axial rotation has been slowed by the Sun.
In the future, Mercury should exhibit the same characteristics as the Moon when its axial rotation will be even slower. The sentence “…; therefore, the planets rotate more and more slowly…”, suggests the idea of a future.
When the text tells us “This leaves a hemisphere of the planet constantly turned towards the sun or the largest body,…”, the term “This” is the subject of the paragraph, that is to say the “slowing down of the axial rotation of the stars because of gravitational influences” which will leave in the future a hemisphere constantly turned towards the largest body, and not “the complete stop of the planets on their axis”. Because, in principle, in this last case all the faces of the planet must be visible.
The age of the Universe is currently set at around 15 billion years, if there was a “Big Bang”. However, the Big Bang theory is apparently faltering. According to this theory, the Universe was born following a prodigious “explosion” giving birth to time and space.
An article in a journal entitled “Ciel et Espace”, nº 389, Oct. 2002, p.36, presents recent research, unveiled at the Texas Symposium in December 1998 in Paris. From the study of type 1 supernova explosions, the accelerated expansion of the Universe was highlighted. This would be proof of the presence of an energy called “dark energy”. An energy alone capable of overcoming the brake exerted by the attraction of matter.
Furthermore, the new cosmological maps on the inhomogeneities of cold light (this light would constitute 99.9% of all existing light), published in April 2001 and May 2002, confirm the flatness of the Universe.
This flatness, already predicted by The Urantia Book at UB 15:1.2, was recently, and again, highlighted by the sending of a balloon to an altitude of 30 km to measure the cosmic background (the primordial radiation that would be emitted during the Big Bang) in order to measure the density of the Universe (cf. Science & Vie, special issue, no. 221, December 2002, p. 158). This measurement would confirm the expansion of the Universe, which would slow down but would only stop in an infinite time.
According to the article, we must now take into account 3 elements governing the Universe:
Dark energy would contribute 70% of the energy of the entire Universe compared to 25% for dark matter and 5% for ordinary matter.
The aspects of these 3 elements are based on more than 95% of unknown and would call into question the theory of the Big Bang by embarrassing the defenders of the “dogmas” of traditional science because dark matter and dark energy do not leave direct traces for researchers.
The article finally specifies that this dark energy, associated with vacuum energy (another invisible energy born in the very distant past of the Universe), could increase the age of the Universe which would thus see its initial value multiplied up to 10 to the power of 55 to 10 to the power of 122 times its initial value (pp. 42-43).
The Revelators tell us that the constitution of Andronover (our galaxy a priori) began 987 billion years ago. The Universe is therefore surely much older compared to current scientific estimates because there would perhaps not have been a Big Bang as astrophysicists understand it today. And the Revelators do not in fact tell us about this theory.
This is even if today recent discoveries place the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years (see Le Monde, nº 18059, Saturday February 15, 2003, page 25) thanks to the sending of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, launched on June 30, 2001, which was able to observe, at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth, the fossil radiation of the Universe when it was only 380,000 years old.
The article specifies that the Universe is made up of 4% of atoms of known matter (protons, electrons, neutrons), 23% of unknown dark matter and 73% of dark energy (these figures match those in the article in the journal Ciel et Espace). The measurements from this probe confirm that the Universe is in accelerated expansion. Stéphane Corbel, researcher in the astrophysics department of the Atomic Energy Commission and lecturer at the University of Paris-VII, specifies that everything happens as if a dark energy, the nature of which is unknown, was extracted from the void and could counterbalance gravity.
The probe must still explore the sky for three years to possibly answer these questions, while another mission, called Planck, from the European Space Agency, is planned for 2007 to refine this research.
But let’s wait because science is characterized by many twists and turns.
Through these few scientific aspects, it seems obvious that we must carefully read the very detailed presentations of the Revelators and take a step back from the assertions of science whose perpetual discoveries constantly shake up the convictions of researchers.
Since not everything has been revealed, and science has not yet discovered everything that the Revelators have said, questions remain. The aspects of the Urantia Book that have not yet been elucidated can, for their part, excite curiosity and advance the research of those who dare to look into the Fifth Revelation. Let us not forget that the Revelators are well beyond our mental capacities and their approaches are surely of a subtlety that escapes us.
And many other points deserve study.
John Lehee
| Le Lien Urantien — Issue 25 — Spring 2003 — Contents | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 25 — Spring 2003 | Ignorance |