Mourning The Future Death of the Universe

[宁]

I remember i was shocked the first time i saw a Discovery documentary about the sun, which included the assertion that the Earth will die too, one day, because of the Sun. It is estimated that only the large planets will survive in this solar system, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn maybe. The Sun will explode, but not before it will engulf most of the small planets around it.

 

 

This solar system will look much like a deserted house in the years to come. A small white dwarf in it's center, and the lonely giants spinning around it silently...

 

[As a side note, i've been interested about the so called Oort Cloud, the cloud of debris that encompasses the solar system, like a mantle of rock and ice asteroids..

 

 

the reason i'm interested in it is, i want to see if there is any symbolical or spiritual connection between this giant cloud, older than the solar system, and the 'dark worlds of the Qeliphot' as described by the (authentic) Qabbalah. i suspect it is, because i believe that everything spiritual has something physical as it's basis...]

 

just the other days i've watched another Discovery astrophysics show that said it is very possible that in the near future our Galaxy, the Milky Way, will collide with the galaxy Andromeda..

 

 

yes, that's right, and although these events will happen in the very distant future, the very thought that what i once watched and loved will be no more, makes me irrationally sad... the two galaxies will join together into a cosmic dance, whose gravitational forces will pluck stars out from their orbits and throw them into the immensity of empty space..

 

then... the stars will evolve and die, and because of the lack of hidrogen, after thousands of millenia, the universe will become a darker and darker place, there will be fewer and fewer stars to ignite...

 

even more, the dark matter will push the whole of the universe further apart, disintegrating it on a large scale, then on a smaller and smaller scale, galaxies, solar systems, planets, matter, atoms etcetera...

 

we will be loong loong gone by then...

and so it will end one day, our beautiful night sky will become pitch dark...

 

the thought that the universe itself is going to die one day, how does this make you feel?

 

 

 

 

 

 

physicist tell us that time exists simultaneously, and this very moment is connected with the birth of the universe, and with it's scheduled demise. the very fact that we are here, and now, connects us with these events. once awareness takes them into account, how does this change the way you look at things everyday?

[Green Tiger]

It is good, I think, to consider these things. Although they are somewhat gloomy. Alan Watts said that thinking of death and considering skulls and things of that nature was good for the creative mind like manure is good for a garden.

 

That was one suggestion Watts made on more than one occasion, in fact. He said people should consider two things: 1) What it will be like to fall asleep and never wake up and 2) That there is really nothing good that can be said about us. That we are all selfish and out for our own gain and basically total rascals.

 

HINT: Think about them long enough, though, and you find that neither is completely true.

[Marblehead]

I agree, Green Tiger, neither are completely true.

 

 

Hi Little1,

 

I enjoy learning about this stuff too. Yes, one day our sun will run out of energy. Oh well.

 

I believe in cycles though so for me, there will be a day when the universe stops its expansion and will begin a contraction back into a Singularity and the entire process will start all over again.

 

Actually, there are meteorites that have been dated to be older than our solar system. These would likely be the remains of the massive star exploding to become our solar system but these meteors never collided and merged with any other objects so they have kept their original composition. Perhaps of the Oort Cloud or the Kuiper Belt.

[宁]

Hehe, yeah i hear ya both!

 

 

Scientists base their assumptions and theories on the fact that the laws of the universe were, are and will be the same for eternity.

 

I'd sure like to witness all of this... matter of fact, witness it from the very beginning, till the very end.

Not sure about cycles though... maybe a spiral?? maybe start up again as something else?

[zerostao]

maybe this will cheer you up long before the future death of the universe, we will most likely (99.99%

probability) be extinct anyways no worries.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction

 

everyone have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

[Marblehead]

 

Not sure about cycles though... maybe a spiral?? maybe start up again as something else?

 

That has been suggeted to me before. I don't have enough knowledge/data to move from cycles to spirals at this point in time.

[Marblehead]

maybe this will cheer you up long before the future death of the universe, we will most likely (99.99%

probability) be extinct anyways no worries.

 

 

everyone have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

 

Yeah, who knows what that rough comet is headed on its very long journey toward us at this very moment.

 

We better live while we can.

[宁]

Yeah, who knows what that rough comet is headed on its very long journey toward us at this very moment.

 

We better live while we can.

 

true, but that's not the most adequate conclusion i hoped to end up this thread with... hehe

 

can you imagine anything more long lasting than the universe?

[Marblehead]

true, but that's not the most adequate conclusion i hoped to end up this thread with... hehe

 

can you imagine anything more long lasting than the universe?

 

Hehehe. Belly laughs. I really didn't want to put an end to the world or the thread.

 

Yes, I can imagine. How about we consider my universal cycles. That would mean the game is never over because the end of one is the beginning of another. Destruction and creation - the same thing.

 

Everything from nothing? No, I don't buy that. Everytihing has always existed. You have existed forever, it is just that you have taken different forms over time. Some times you were just hot air. What?!?!? That didn't come out right. Hehehe. How about pure energy? That sounds better.

 

Are we eternal? Well, if we look at it from the above perspective we all are eternally eternal. It is just that we are not always who or what we are at this point in time. (I suggest that we get only one shot at this manifestation.) Our Buddhist friends get off easier, especially if they are naughty and have to do it over, and over, and over again.

 

But yeah, I feel it is very optimistic to regard life, all of life, as creation and destruction and reversion and cycles. Always something new just around the corner.

 

But then, back to your original post, yes, in about 2.5 billion years our sun will cause the death of all living things on this planet. But then, I don't think you nad I will have to worry about that because we will be something else by then.

[宁]

pure energy, heh? i hate pure things, hihi. they feel so synthetical... raw, yes, you can give me raw any day.

raw energy. so be it then. see you in space, amigo, when our dust will be pulverized into raw energy... we might even take a hike to visit the primordial egg...

[tulku]

i happen to think that our universe might expire within our very limited human lifespans.

[Marblehead]

pure energy, heh? i hate pure things, hihi. they feel so synthetical... raw, yes, you can give me raw any day.

raw energy. so be it then. see you in space, amigo, when our dust will be pulverized into raw energy... we might even take a hike to visit the primordial egg...

 

Or maybe even meet some female raw energy? Now wouldn't that be exlosive?

 

Yeah, I hear you about the word "pure". Many connotations with that word.

[Marblehead]

i happen to think that our universe might expire within our very limited human lifespans.

 

WoW! That might not be very long. But as long as it doesn't happen until after my lifespan is finished I'll be okay. You younger folks need to hurry up and live though. Don't want to wait until it is too late.

[tulku]

seriously what's wrong with death of the universe?

 

how do you know the universe will not be reborn into a greater state of being?

 

an megaverse or omniverse for eg..

[johnbyram]

physicist tell us that time exists simultaneously, and this very moment is connected with the birth of the universe, and with it's scheduled demise. the very fact that we are here, and now, connects us with these events. once awareness takes them into account, how does this change the way you look at things everyday?

 

I think this is very interesting. Would you say that what is meant is that we're all really free of time, because time doesn't exist? Merely the shifting of matter and energy into new states at varying rates? In other words, we're not seperated from the past or the future in any way except in how matter has been altered since, or will be altered later. In terms of 'time', the only thing that has ever existed or will exist is the now.

 

Maybe something else was meant by these physicists, but it struck a chord, cause I've been thinking of this idea some lately.

[~riverflow]

[Green Tiger]

[Stigweard]

Let us mourn in advance then and sunder this urn of ashes...

 

I pondered Buddha's teaching

a full four and eighty years.

The gates are all now

locked about me.

No one was ever here -

Who then is he about to die,

and why lament for nothing?

Farewell!

The night is clear,

the moon shines calmly,

the wind in the pines

is like a lyre's song.

With no I and no other

who hears the sound?

 

Zoso Royo 1276

 

[Marblehead]

seriously what's wrong with death of the universe?

 

how do you know the universe will not be reborn into a greater state of being?

 

an megaverse or omniverse for eg..

 

Nothing 'wrong' really. I'm just not in a hurry for it to happen, at least while I am still alive.

 

I don't know about being reborn into a greater state of being. That would almost require a diviner, wouldn't it? I don't believe in such things.

 

But yes, I do hold to the concept of reversion and cycles so the end of one would be the beginning of another.

[Marblehead]

 

Maybe something else was meant by these physicists, but it struck a chord, cause I've been thinking of this idea some lately.

 

Yeah, the 'now' moment is connected to both the past and the future because of the process of 'cause and effect'.

 

However, I think that what we humans do has very little effect on the processes of the universe as a whole. We really are not as important as many of us think we are. Sure, we can change parts of the world but I doubt anything we do will effect Mars of Venus. Or how long the Earth will be able to support life, for that matter.

[tulku]

Nothing 'wrong' really. I'm just not in a hurry for it to happen, at least while I am still alive.

 

I don't know about being reborn into a greater state of being. That would almost require a diviner, wouldn't it? I don't believe in such things.

 

But yes, I do hold to the concept of reversion and cycles so the end of one would be the beginning of another.

 

There is nothing to believe or disbelieve.

 

We humans are wretched things, born at the mercy of higher dimensional beings.

 

We may not control our fates totally but we can control our nature.

 

We can change who we are, what we are and I know not even the higher dimensional gods can do a single thing to stop us if we decide to align our will totally with the void.

[Marblehead]

I agree with you except for the "higher dimensional beings" stuff.

 

You talked about free will and intent, concepts that I hold to.

[johnbyram]

Yeah, the 'now' moment is connected to both the past and the future because of the process of 'cause and effect'.

 

However, I think that what we humans do has very little effect on the processes of the universe as a whole. We really are not as important as many of us think we are. Sure, we can change parts of the world but I doubt anything we do will effect Mars of Venus. Or how long the Earth will be able to support life, for that matter.

 

We're talking about such a long period of time. If man managed to not destroy himself, and society flourished for a billion years, surely we would understand everything about the nature of the universe by then, and be able to affect it in some major ways? Maybe even find a way to rejuvinate it? Assuming we wanted to. Perhaps upon discovering the true nature of the universe, we'd see the wisdom of allowing it to all perish and then rebirth, and wouldn't be that upset by it?

[Marblehead]

We're talking about such a long period of time.

 

Yes, when talking about man's time on Earth we are talking of a very short period of time - a blink of an eye for the universe.

 

I can't answer your questions. I am not one of those people who claim to be able to see the future.

 

As the human population on Earth continues to grow there will be more wars and hatred. And in the process of human population growth we are killing off other species of life.

 

I wonder how much enjoyment I could get out of life if I look out my window and all I could see was concrete, steel and glass. No birds, no butterflies.

 

Yes, one day it will all perish whether we want it to or not. My philosophy tells me that there will be a new beginning. Who knows what might be the next go 'round.

 

But then, maybe there is intelligent life within other solar systems scattered throughout the universe and they are doing a much better job than we are.

[宁]

On the other hand, we seem to be living on subsequent time bombs:

 

- the Earth and Solar System: E.T.E - a couple of million years

 

 

- the Milky Way : E.T.Destruction - a couple of many more million years

 

 

- the Universe itself: sooner or later (sooner if you ask tulku, but don't)

 

it reminds me of strategy videogames, when you have to develop your society and progress during several stages, each stage being conditioned by some cataclysm or destruction force that was due at a certain time in the future.

 

bottom line:

 

- firstly we have to develop/evolve so that our Earth with her biodiversity still remains more or less intact

 

- second, we have to develop faster than our Sun decays, so that we may find an alternative way of survival

 

- after which, we have to survive the death of our mother galaxy...

 

- then survive and surpass the death of the universe...

 

Sounds like a plan to me!

Each of these stages may mean a radical change in what we now know as humanity.

I watched some other Discovery documentaries, about the future of technology and biotechnology... in the near future there will surely be a fusion of the biological and technological.

It seems that the Damocles sword that will push us towards this will be the gradual decay of the human body due to the advance of civilization and technology.

The next step will be the fusion of technology and consciousness - at least this was 'forseen' by some scientists.

Soo... we have in our sight some of the evolutionary steps that we will take, only god knows in what form...