Week Four----Energy, Matter and the Four Forces ...

How has e=mc2 affected you? .....Einstein's iconic equation, e=mc2, is the foundation of much man-made phenomenon in our modern day world, yet many of us do not understand, or even care to ponder, its meaning and effect (it is a bit disturbing that when I google "e=mc2" half the links are to half-naked pictures of Mariah Carey.) And I must admit, I am one of those people. It is ever so easy to plug in a lamp and take it for granted that everything is illuminated. And when I do contemplate the fact that all matter is condensed energy, I brace the edge of my chair in anxiety that the Universe, with a snip, could unravel and explode. There was a Big Bang once afterall. Relaxing back into my chair, I think of energy from a more Eastern perspective. Qi. The dynamic aggregation and dispersal of energy into more material and immaterial forms, respectively. (And when I google "qi" I do not get any links to half-naked pictures of Mariah Carey.)

How would you compare the four forces? ....The strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force, for me, must be imagined. Of course I 'experience' them, but given that they act on a sub-atomic level, I take them for granted. On an observable level, they hold it all together---in balance---make life as we know it possible. Gravity and electromagnetism also make life as we know it possible, however, they are more observable. Gravity is marvelous---strong enough to hold everything 'down', but weak enough to let us move it all around. We are always standing on the edge of it all, and gravity lets us hang there. Electromagnetism has both positive and negative charges; it attracts and repels (and makes your hair stand up with static electricity). It is interesting how the West views energy in this way---the categories that are constructed to bind and quantify these mysterious forces ....and the stormy thought bubbles that arise when no one theory can umbrella them all. Perhaps examining the nameless energy that all of these forces together comprise should not be broken down in the manner that they are, meaning---perhaps we are looking a bit too deeply, too intellectually, into what is only meant to be felt?

How is gravity related to the other forces? ....Gravity, because of its attractive force, "gives things weight." Although it is a weak force, it causes objects with mass to attract (as opposed to, repel) one another. Electromagnetism both attracts and repels---it hold things together on an inter-molecular level. Strong and weak forces hold things together on a sub-atomic level. Gravity is exceptional because its pervasive energy is what "holds us down." Grounds us. Encourages us to believe that there is such a thing as the ground, that life is linear and only moves in one direction. Our philosophies would be quite different in we floated about with nothing solid beneath our feet.