There has been a lot of tooing and froing between the top scientists in the world over the last couple of weeks about the Higgs boson particle, which they are deeming to be the ‘God particle’, and whether they can prove that some sort of atom is responsible for what millions of people think to be God. If they find it, they feel that they will be able to prove what created stars and galaxies and all those things that I find fascinating; a world beyond the world that we live in.
Quite frankly, this doesn’t wash with me. I have mentioned before about the stalemates I came to with first boyfriend by innocently stating that I thought the theory of evolution had gaps in its reasoning, and how this came to mean to him that I was a nut-job and needed re-educating, but I really think that there are gaps in all the theories and maybe the way the world was created sits somewhere in the middle. I’m not religious, and I don’t necessarily believe that there was a big bang, but I don’t have a differing opinion of any standing that I can present as an alternative. I just think that there are arguments with bot, and that they are the opinions of different groups of people. I know that scientists argue that actually there is lots of proof behind some of the theories, but im not sure if I agree. I think the big bang theory is a bit silly, as what banged? But I like the theory of evolution and I like to think that biblical stories aren’t fact, but more guides of how we should live. I mean I don’t agree that thousands of years ago Jonah got eaten by a whale, but at the same time it’s a little like Aesop’s fables to me; stories that have a basis that we should all think about and apply to our lives. I’m one of those people who really annoy theorists, as I don’t actually have an argument for them to reason with, I more shrug my shoulders and utter “meh” when I disagree.
But I think my main standing on the presence of the God particle is that I really don’t want there to be one.
At all.
OK, I might not believe in a divine being that shaped and created us, but I do believe in the idea that we all need something to believe in, whether it is religious or otherwise. I don’t care if people believe in Lady Gaga, Zeus, Father Christmas or any of the other cult figures out there, but I think that if we didn’t have something to believe in, life would be a bit bleaker. I personally believe that everything happens for a reason. You might disagree and think I am a misguided and silly little girl, but this belief has got me through some really tough times and difficult situations, and therefore it’s my crutch. It’s something that I believe in. and I think this is much the same with the millions of people that believe in a God or any kind of religious body. I’m not trying to belittle anyone’s beliefs here at all, I believe that believing in something, whether people deem us to be right or wrong, gives us strength, and faith is a fantastic thing to have.
As John Mayer would say (and I seek him as my life guru for all sorts of sticky situations! :)) “Belief is a beautiful armour, it makes for the heaviest sword.”
For the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me: Twelve Drummers Drumming.
And Jowett. Didnt think I’d miss you off? Although his comments about grumpy old people and referencing me nearly put him on the naughty list and therefore out of my game! You made Father Christmas cry.
My Eleven Pipers Piping post has to be Lyrical Gangsta, a post I wrote about people messing up the lyrics of songs which is pretty topical after this mornings Christmas parodies on the radio!
Happy Christmas Eve Eve x
Tinkerbelle 
harsh
Beaut of a blog this morning on belief, really warmed me up. I managed to sleep trough my alarm at 5, ergo miss my tram and then my train, and then the 2nd train was completely cancelled. I can’t wait to see why the universe decided to extend my 6 hour journey and make me 2 hours later getting home (as every little incident occurs for a reason!) we shall see…
I think that it’s become a bit of an over-hyped joke that once again the media managed to pick up on half a story and allow people to run with it in completely the wrong direction. The Higgs Boson (as I, a non-graduate guy who has a passing interest in science and how things work understands it) is something that gives mass to everything. One science dude called it the God Particle years ago as a bit of a joke because of its illusiveness and because confirming its existence would mean that our current understanding of quantum physics is solidified.
The Higgs Particle isn’t claimed to be the particle that made everything but that it gives everything mass and therefore helps our understanding of gravity and all that jazzy stuff. I tried to explain this using my basic understanding and limited vocabulary a couple of weeks ago in this post: http://dazzlerebel.com/2011/12/14/its-physics-jim-but-not-as-we-know-it-or-the-higgs-boson-as-a-layman-understands-it/
My thoughts, exactly. Someone makes an off-hand remark that feeds the Scandal Machine perfectly, and Off we go!
Why examine an issue when you can polarize it?
Good post! Re religion, etc, There might as many belief systems as people walking the planet. I’m fascinated by the whole HB thing, although my capacity for scientific understanding is close to zero. And, on another note, I believe we are all in this life together. I believe we are all the same life force. I believe we are all members of the same family. So, for that reason, I am good and kind and caring. And for that reason, I derive strength and hope. And for that reason, and for absolutely no other, I would like to leave this planet better off than when I entered.
Lol! Your posts always bring a smile to my face, so I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award 🙂 Keep writing and spread the laughter! Here is the link
http://masalaart.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/versatile-blogger-award/
Happy Holidays!
I find this particle to be inspiring by the fact that the physicists feel it flickers into and out of existence. If that is true, then one has to wonder where they go when they’re not ‘here’? Perhaps new mysteries await.
You have hit the nail on the head hun! 🙂
If they find the Higgs Boson it will rewrite the rule books.
If not?
Well it’s not without its good side: We’ll know a lot more about how the Universe is put together!
These are strange times where even the speed of light limit is being challenged! 🙂
As for creation?
I find it hard to think of there NOT being a creator given that we started from nothing to become living, breathing, life in a series of random events if you listen to the scientists.
Einstein was unable to complete his unified field theory because he could not reconcile his theories with his belief in God…
Love, hugs and Merry Christmas hun!
Prenin.
It’s all good. The problem is too many think everyone who believes not as they do are dumb as posts. I have my belief, but it isn’t any more enlightened or better than that of the next person, it just works for me, as theirs does for them.
First we hear of things faster than speed of light, now of a particle that gives things mass… what a target item for weight loss products! Find a way to tinker with Higgs relative weight, and look… I’ve lost twenty! I’ll have that extra éclair for breakfast, adjust Higgs, and all will be well.
Think of the fun one could have with a co-worker… set it up so her the mass value around her chair spikes, say… by fifty percent, heh.
Rather mundane stuff… when science figures out the workings of my daft brain, it will have something.
love reading this. i’m an Ayn Rand girl, HANDS DOWN. but raised catholic, there’s a part of me that actually WANTS to believe in a God. but i don’t. so i’m agnostic. yet i pray every night before bed, just in case. there is a just in case theory, written about by Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher (wikipedia). you might find blaise to be interesting. i pray every night, thanking a potential god, for allowing my dog to save me from BULIMIA. then again, i need reason. but there’s never anything wrong with praying, just in case. x
As a Christian, I don’t feel that you belittled my beliefs in the slightest by anything you wrote here. I agree that our souls yearn for something bigger than ourselves to believe in. I’m not post modern enough to say “to each his own,” but I am also not pig-headed-enough to believe that everyone must agree with me. Instead, I appreciate what you wrote here because I read through my Christian lens that I look at the world with and I see words that point to the God I believe in. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, lady 🙂
Hi Tink, happy Christmas and have a peaceful and prosperous new year. Thanks for all the laughs, deep thoughts and insights this last year. As for the Higgs Boson particle it’s really just part of the picture of the physical universe. Evolution isn’t incompatible with the existence of God and even Richard Dawkin’s ‘The Selfish Gene’ and Robert Mithens ‘A Prehistory Of The Mind’ don’t as scientific books written by confirmed atheists constitute a complete argument for the non existence of God. The immortal self replicating DNA theory of Dawkins is sound, but doesn’t mean that a guiding mind creator hasn’t designed it to do that. Mithens theory on the mind developing in an evolutionary manner doesn’t mean that God didn’t intend for it to develop that way, though he is missing two skulls and there is a moment of massive human intellectual development, apparent from Bronowski’s writing in ‘The Ascent Of Man’; Just as you said ‘there are gaps. So there are many questions to be answered and I suspect from my studies that answers will continue not to preclude the existence of a guiding mind or intelligent designer behind it all. Having been raised as an atheist and converting to Christianity through philosophical and theological studies, I am myself certain that there is a God. Finally there was a Horizon programme recently on the new area of physics of ‘Pre Big Bang Theory’. Finally scientists have cottoned on to the fact that for there have to have been a ball of matter and a big bang sparked by a ‘God Particle’ there has to be a pre-existent dimensional space into which a physical ‘universe’ could expand and there had to be matter there before, something I argued about with my atheist dad when we visited the Planetarium when I was about 11! Having said of all of that it’s good to see young & intelligent people like yourself engaging in this kind of thinking. I was a secondary school teacher for 15 years and I felt that many young people weren’t questioning and seeking answers to fundamental philosophical questions. Reading your blog has renewed my faith that young people are beginning to question the old fogeys and their incomplete theories. Personally I like that sequence at the end of ‘Men In Black’, the first film, when reality zooms out and there are more and more larger creatures and realities. Anyway if you are interested I wrote a blog about this some time ago; my own take on what you said. Have a read after the Christmas, it’ll be less heavy going than left over turkey! http://richardwiseman.blogspot.com/2011/08/its-not-how-universe-came-about-but-why.html
Meantime speaking as a Christian I pray that the ‘Angel of the Covenant’ incarnated as Jesus is there to grant your wishes and that the mighty and eternal God is with you and blesses you and yours with every good thing this holiday season.
Ricky W
I would be a little less skeptical about science than you would be, but I definitely find that people can treat “theories” as “principles” (you mentioned evolution) when in fact there are still some details that have yet to be worked out! And some very militant atheists like Dawkins have given science a bad name. Once you get past their philosophical additions though, the science is generally pretty good 😉 Oh, and Happy Christmas! 🙂
Skepticism is healthy, especially when it leads to a better understanding of the situation one is skeptical about. The God particle is just a name for a necessary (perhaps) link in the chain of reasoning (and events) that help scientists to better understand how “what gets called material reality” came into existence. Believing in the God particle does not mean that you have to believe or disbelieve is the divine presence that I believe is the source of “goodness” in the world. Very nice post. Thanks.
I liked your view about the “God particle” and I tend to agree with you on all your points (stories to make us thin about how to behave). You’ve got the right idea. Happy Christmas, Tinkerbelle.
I totally agree in the importance of believing in something (all hail to the power of John Mayer lyrics!!) – I also believe everything happens for a reason, and I believe in karma (“what goes around comes around”). Beyond that, I think I’m a skeptic!
I’m posting today just because – I usually don’t for the main reason that nobody gives a hoot! But today I will. I’m not religious but “saved”, as the saying goes, and that’s the “reason for the season”. If you want to find the answer, you will.
I have a book that you might like but I’m not able to sent you the link in this comment box. If you want, sent me an email and I can forward you the link to it.
(You have “liked” some of my posts before) 🙂
LOVE that John Mayer quote. I believe what I believe, but I think people make it all too complex. Why do I have to be right and spend my days telling you that you are wrong? I think people should believe whatever they want, if it makes them better, kinder, more sensitive, brave…whatever the gift, then who the hell cares about the details? My God – the one I believe in, talks about love more than anything else – and yet somehow most of his followers talk more about judgement than anything else…something seems terribly amiss.
Love your thoughts, love your posts. xxx
My thoughts, exactly!!! And even I strongly believe that whatever happens, happens for a reason. Of course, it may not always make sense at that moment! 🙂