User:Paine Ellsworth/Mystery

This "think" page is devoted to great mysteries I have encountered in this world. Feel free to think along with me!

These are in no particular order; they are written as they recur to me.

Homestead, Florida's Coral Castle

Check out this quite probably related YouTube video. And here's a YouTube search. Seems that lots of people think they've solved this mystery. But there are still anomalies that stand out.

I remember reading about Ed's legendary move from Florida City ten miles north to Homestead. He hired a flatbed truck and driver, and he made the driver go around the corner while he himself loaded the heavy blocks onto the flatbed. When the driver returned a few minutes later, the blocks were loaded and ready to go. How did ol' Ed do all this? This is another great mystery wrapped in an enigma!

Churches of Lalibela

In Ethiopia, where I spent time with the U.S. Peace Corps, there are ~~twelve (oops)~~ eleven churches, Christian churches, that were carved out of solid rock. I heard a different legend about these awesome churches. King Lalibela had his men begin work on these churches and asked the angels to work on them, also. His men worked in the daytime, and the angels worked during the night. The men would wake up each day and be astounded by the amount of work done overnight by the angels. The legend is that it took only one week, seven days, to construct all of the churches! Well, at least that is what you hear while you're actually there in Ethiopia.

Why were these churches built this way? and why eleven? I have suspected for some time now that there were actually twelve of these churches constructed all at about the same time. One church that houses the Ark of the Covenant, which was taken there by members of the Knights Templar, has been filled in to protect the Ark and other religious relics. The church and the Ark will be found soon, rediscovered for all to ponder. So the churches were built this way in order to very effectively hide the Ark of the Covenant and other precious relics from the unworthy eyes of those who would not appreciate their true worth.

These churches are an example of many great and mysterious constructions throughout the world. The Great pyramids of Egypt and elsewhere and other similar wonders give many people pause when we ponder the abilities of the ancient peoples of Earth.

Destiny

Why are we here? Is our presence here governed by determinism or by free will? Why can't we rid ourselves of stuff like murder, thievery, human trafficking and the like (evil stuff)? Evil is with us because it is a necessity. People measure good by its contrast to evil. It's ironic to think that without evil, there would be no good, either. So why can't we get rid of the both of them, good and evil? Is there more to it than just yin and yang?

For more than fifty years I have believed and accepted the following instruction... "There's no such thing as black or white; gray is truth and the truth is gray." That's okay, because for almost as long and to give you a bit of context, I have also accepted that, "When a person learns to read with understanding, they automatically become a Republican," and I am a registered Democrat from a long, long line of Democrats. So I'm liberal at heart, but conservative at mind. Again with the "polar opposites"? The important thing to always keep in mind (and in your heart) is that there is no such thing as black or white; gray is truth and the truth is gray.

So, is our fate made for us? or do we make our own way. That "truth is gray" thing is not something I came up with on my own. It was taught to me by my hypnosis/meditation instructor while I was in Viet Nam in 1971. Mike had several students, and he laid that little gem on us one evening while we were in group. I was pretty much a redneck when I started Mike's training, and that slowly changed as I worked to remake myself. The answer to the question of fate, then, is somewhere in the middle of the two extremes of our lives being made for us and making our own destinies. Where in that middle depends upon each of us, upon each of our inner beings based upon nature and nurture.

I don't expect anyone who reads this to blindly accept it as all true, because it may well be way off the mark, but frankly, I think it's right on the mark. And I'm never wrong! Remember... there's no such thing as black or white; gray is truth and the truth is gray. Mystery, mystery, shrouded in history – have a cup of coffee or something and let's wait on the next big adventure!

Man: It won't be long now. Woman: It never was.

Quantum outtakes

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then we've saved 3,000 words with these three images. With this physics mystery comes many interesting questions. Let's keep it simple and begin with how at first they used photons even though the first image to the right shows electrons being shot toward the screen through the double slits. Whatever the particles that are "shot" toward the slits, they produce the image on the screen as shown in the second image on the right. That's called an "interference pattern", and it means that the so-called particle is behaving just like a wave instead of like a particle. No big mystery here – the electron or photon is actually a wave rather than a particle.

What's puzzling is when a sensing device is placed near one of the slits to see if a certain individual particle goes through one slit or the other, then the particles produce the pattern on the screen as shown in the third image on the right. The particles begin to act like particles instead of like waves. And ever since this was discovered in the last century, scientists have been asking "Why?" That's the big mystery. Why do particles behave like waves until they are closely observed, at which time they act like particles? Take the sensing device away, and they act like waves again (that is, they produce the interference pattern seen in the second image on the right).

We need some quantum outtakes here.

The simplest conclusion is that we can change waves into particles just by observing them. The seemingly mere act of observing a subject can radically change the subject's behavior!

This conclusion becomes obvious when we think of how the great scientist, Jane Goodall, began her study of chimpanzees by observing them from afar and ended up becoming so close to her subjects and changing their behavior. It's one of several reasons why animals in zoos act differently than animals in their natural habitats. Just the mere act of observing a subject can radically change the subject's behavior. Someone once said about the difference between "reputation" and "character", "How we behave around others is our reputation; how we behave when we're alone is our character."

Isn't it interesting that this mysterious discovery is the only thing that is common between our larger world of classical physics and the tiny world of quantum physics? Observation changes the behavior of the subject that is being observed. Behaving like a particle is a particle's reputation; behaving like a wave is a particle's character!

Paradoxum

This sentence is false.: So if that sentence is true, then it must be false; however, if it is false, then it must be true. This is a form of the "liar paradox".

Of all the weird stuff in this Universe, I think contradictions – paradoxes – are great mysteries. I first came across this particular paradox in a less streamlined form:

The sentence below is true.
The sentence above is false.

As good as the first sentence of this section is, I think the double sentence better illustrates the profound mystery of this paradox. A real head-scratcher! Can't stay long, jus' gotta move on.

Asimov's paradox

I've searched for this one, a paradox of entropy similar to Zeno's paradoxes, and since I haven't been able to find it, I'll call this Asimov's paradox. Asimov wrote a story, "The Last Question", in which the question of entropy, defined as the gradual dissipation of energy in the Universe, arose and was explained, well, sort of. As well, this one came to mind from remembering Russell's teapot and its impact on atheism vs. theism.

If the energy of the Universe dissipates halfway to zero, then it will have to dissipate halfway to zero again... and again and again in a series of infinitesimals, and it will never, ever reach zero.

Since the actual realities of Zeno's paradoxes paradoxically show that infinity paradoxes are simply mental math tricks, it doesn't leave us much hope for the Universe, now does it. I need more coffee.

Changes

When you think that anything has remained the same, look more closely, and think again.

It seems to be one of the greatest mysteries that there is actually an order to chaos. Chaos theory has unveiled just such an order to every chaotic, changing system that has been studied. It's a mystery that a butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine.^[1]

I am truly mystified by the order that has been discovered in apparently chaotic systems. The only thing in this entire universe that does not change is the fact that everything changes, and there seems to be an organization to those changes no matter how unruly they appear to be. This is more awesome than most people are prepared to accept. It is the basis of the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes. It's strange how well that book works to predict the future. Peruse it in good health!

References

^ In the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) attempts to explain chaos theory to Dr. Ellie Sattler (played by Laura Dern), specifically referencing the butterfly effect, by stating "It simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems", and "The shorthand is 'the butterfly effect'." [link]

Don't-knowist

Me? a DINOSAUR? (scratches his head)

With this I reveal something I've never told anyone. I'm not an atheist nor a theist, nor even agnostic; I am a don't-knowist, I am truly very much don't-knowic. I simply do not know anything at all about whether or not a higher being of any kind exists. I believe in higher beings, but there is no proof, no hard evidence. I believe in them because, as I've said before, I refuse to accept that human beings as a whole are the highest forms of life in the Universe. So in truth, I'm just a little ol' don't-knowist, just an ignorant sumbitch. What comes next after my body dies is one great and profound mystery to me.

“

I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain ... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.

”

— Richard Feynman, Video

As Wm. Shakespeare would say, "There's the rub!‍" (at least, for me) It seems to be the hardest, most difficult thing to "leave the door to the unknown ajar". Most of the time, I wouldn't even want to peek through it – that's how much I (and most other people) fear, even dread, the unknown. But what the hell, let's keep peeking.

If you, like me, are a don't-knowist, or perhaps the things you've read and studied have made you a budding don't-knowist, then this particular mystery of living has a certain amount of attraction and interest for you. I've been looking most of my life for evidence that higher beings exist, and I think I've found some. If you have found some objective evidence, then do please bring it up on this unarticle's talk page to discuss it. Keep in mind my thoughts on the nature of a deity or deities, which might make proving their existence a little easier. What we're looking for are things similar to the free oxygen level in the atmosphere of Earth that is regulated to about 21%. What other things are also being controlled/regulated that could be evidence of higher beings? I honestly would love to hear from you!

The Taboo Four

Back in '71 when I was a US Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, East Africa, we were instructed to never, ever, become involved in any discussion with Ethiopians about any of the four "Taboo" subjects: race, religion, politics, sex. And even now, these discussions can still be highly contentious and even volatile. While I've seen this many times and know all this to be true, I've never been able to understand why people cannot discuss these subjects without getting all bent out of shape. This is yet another mystery I may never solve.

Dark E & M

It seems so obvious to me that what science calls "dark energy" is the energy of spacetime itself. And dark matter? Well, general relativity states that gravitational fields have energy, and special relativity concludes that energy is equivalent to mass. So a gravitational field induces a further gravitational field. And dark matter is just dark energy that has been detected very far away and that, from that long distance, appears as a mysterious substance that exerts gravitational force. The mystery for me is... why hasn't science caught up with these facts?

Gravity

And now it comes down to this. (pun intended)

We should feign no hypotheses for the cause of gravity (Isaac Newton in public) – I'm told that in a private letter to a friend, Newton wrote that gravity is caused by divine interaction (God). – no, wait – gravity is caused by the influence of matter upon spacetime, matter curves space and that results in the "effect" (not the "force") of gravity. So matter tells spacetime how to bend, and spacetime tells matter how to move. (Albert Einstein). "Prof. Einstein, what did you say, precisely, that bends and curves? the 'nothing' of spacetime?" – no, wait a tiny, wee bit more – gravity's cause is rooted somewhere deeply inside of the enigmatic, perplexing theory of quantum mechanics (quantum gravity).

The actual cause of gravity is the energy of spacetime (dark energy), which continuously flows toward and into the much more condensed forms of energy known as matter. The greater the mass, the more spacetime flows into it and the stronger the apparent gravitational field of the mass. That is what keeps our feet on the ground and our behinds in our seats.

The challenge is that there is no "proof", no evidence that spacetime itself is composed of energy, what I've been calling "spatial energy", which is equivalent to "dark energy". All energy has wavelengths and frequencies. Light energy has wavelengths and frequencies, infrared energy has both, ultraviolet energy, x-ray energy, sound energy, and so on, all have wavelengths and frequencies. What then is the wavelength(s) and frequency(ies) of spatial energy? The longer the wavelength, the weaker the energy, so I suspect that since gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces, then its energies are at the weak end of the spectrum with very long wavelengths and very low frequencies. And since these have not yet been detected, measured and attributed to gravity, then there is nothing yet that we can say with certainty about spatial energy comprising spacetime and causing gravity.

I'm not even sure that we are as yet looking for spatial energy, let alone looking for it in the likely places. I'm not even sure we as yet have the technology to find and measure the long wavelengths of spacetime. The study of gravitational waves will hopefully take us forward. I find that doubtful, though, because studies of gravitational waves and of gravity waves go off in different, unrelated directions. If Newton and Einstein weren't onto something, then who was?

Solar sails

Here's a thought... light, the energy of light, can exert pressure on spacecraft equipped with solar sails. Light energy is composed of fairly short wavelengths, and are fairly high energy waves. Perhaps the longer the wavelength and the lower the relative energy, the more pressure an energy can exert on matter. When the wavelength is very long and the energy is very low, as I suspect it is for spatial energy of the type that exerts pressure on us and keeps our toothbrushes from rising into heaven, the strength of that pressure is large and powerful enough to keep us from floating away? To be clear, the wavelengths of spatial energy can be expected to be very long, and the frequencies, then, must be very low, well below one hertz (one cycle per second) and very difficult to detect.

GWB

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. - Walt Whitman

It looks like (and I want to be careful here) that I am correct about the very low frequency, very long wavelength of the spatial (dark) energy that causes gravity. In June of 2023 astronomers discovered what they call the gravitational wave background (GWB), roughly similar to the cosmic microwave background (CMB). They estimate the wave frequency to be on the order of a billionth of a hertz (0.000000001 of a cycle per second, which is equal to 3.15 cycles per century), and they describe this with the terms "nanohertz" and "These gravitational waves stretch light years across ...". We get closer and closer to connecting the energy of spacetime and the pressure exerted on our bodies that keeps our buns in our seats. I hope a light turns on in somebody's head soon. Rather than "Remember the Alamo!", I'll continue to yawp, "Remember the Casimir!‍"

The symbol for wavelength is called "lambda" and looks like this: λ. The formula for wavelength is:

λ = v / f where v = the velocity of the wave, and f = the frequency of the wave in hertz (cycles per second)

If gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, then the wavelength of a nanohertz wave, a wave that is one billionth of a cycle per second (hertz), is (hold onto your seats) 300 trillion kilometers, which equals 31.7 light years. That is one long wavelength! In case you are not familiar with the wavelengths of energy, to give you perspective, the wavelengths of visible light vary between purple's 380 to red's 700 nanometers (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter). As frequency decreases the wavelength tends to increase, so a lower frequency sound wave that varies between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz (kilo means "thousand") has a longer wavelength, 20hz = 17 meters (56 feet) to 20khz = 17 milimeters (0.67 inches). Keep in mind also that the velocity of sound is much slower than the speed of light and other similar waves. The thing to remember here is that the wavelength tends to increase as the frequency decreases.

To call all this "science", at least two of these three variables, λ, v, and f, still need to be accurately measured so the third unknown can be computed. Yes, I know that science often starts with axiomatic assumptions, but when it comes to gravity, let there be no mistake. If we're going to solve the mystery of the cause of gravity, then we must be as thorough as we can possibly be.

Summary

I think, but cannot yet prove, that it is this extremely low frequency, extremely long wavelength dark energy of spacetime that flows into all matter and causes gravity. It flows continuously into galaxy clusters, into each galaxy toward their centers, into all the stars in each galaxy, and into every material object that orbits those stars. And a tiny bit of this spatial energy flows into each of us. Spatial energy exerts pressure on our atoms, molecules, our organs, our bodies. The rest of this continuous energy flow travels through our bodies and down toward the center of Earth. If I am correct, then such is the cause of gravity.

For me the ongoing mystery here is the source of spatial energy. All energy that we know of has a source – the sound of the crack of a bat in a baseball game has a source, the tiny pinpoints of light in the night sky are the sources of that light, the x-ray energy that shows your doctor your bone structure has a source – so the energy of spacetime, which I believe flows into us and keeps our buns in our seats, must also have a source. It must come from something somewhere, and that is a big mystery of our Universe for me... what could generate, what is the source, of nanohertz spatial/dark/gravitational energy? Is there some kind of enormously huge engine out there somewhere? some gargantuan generator that oscillates at one cycle every billion seconds? Go ahead my friend, you tink a billion seconds ain't so long? Yeah, I know, math-ugh!

U.F.O.

I've been asked my opinion about unidentified flying objects more than once in my lifetime. I saw one once, long ago when I was a boy. My younger cousin's house was within walking distance, and I would often go over to play with him in his backyard. The two of us would walk around the small pond behind his house, watching the minnows swim around near the water's edge, and several role-playing games were also on the menu. One sunny late-afternoon found us lying on our backs in the grass and cloud watching. Almost directly overhead at what seemed a fairly high altitude we noticed several different-colored bright lights revolving slowly around a center. There was no other movement, just red, green, and blue lights circling around an unseen center. My cousin and I watched the lights for several minutes, fascinated and almost mesmerized by their lazy circling in the sky overhead.

Confirmation?: Cuz looked over at me and suggested we call the nearby airbase. I told him that they would probably just say it was a weather balloon or something similar. I went into his house and called the large Air Force base that was a few miles away. The young man who answered, probably a one- or two-striper with phone duty, blurted, "We don't know what it is! We're watching it, too!" Then I went back outside, but by then the lights had disappeared. I told my cousin what the airman had said, and we both remained perplexed by the sighting. We lied back down on the grass, but the circling, colored lights never reappeared. Cuz and I resumed our fun and games. Whenever we told our story to others, they thought we were making it up. So we eventually just kept it to ourselves. Believe it or not, as Ripley would say, U.F.O.s are not always fictional idle gossip. For me, there's another unsolved life-changing event for us to ponder!

Charisma

This is perhaps the greatest mystery of all where human beings are concerned. Not only humans, though. I once read a study of primates, monkeys who lived on an island. There were three distinct groups, each group occupying its own territory on the island, and they all lived in harmony with each other. Then one day, one of the groups went on a conquest of the other two groups. They ravaged the monkeys that weren't in their group, raped and pillaged, made the other monkeys their slaves, and took over the entire island. The scientists who were taking data on these monkeys were astounded! They found that one of the monkeys in the conquering group had recently become the leader of the group, the alpha male. Researchers decided to capture that alpha male to isolate him. After he was removed from the conquering group, everything went back to normal. The conquering group receded back to their traditional territory, the other two groups of monkeys each went back to their previous territories on the island, and there wasn't even any retribution from them against the conquering group of monkeys. All was good, all was peaceful. Researchers then let the alpha male go. He immediately returned to his group, once again led them on a conquering rampage, and proved that even a monkey can possess charisma.

Here is another part of the mystery of charisma

Charisma is listed as an "individual virtue" in the "{{Virtues}}" navbar:

Individual virtues
(list3 =) Accountability · Alertness · Altruism · Authenticity · Calmness · Charisma · Charity · Chastity · Chivalry · Cleanliness · Compassion · Conscientiousness · Courage (Civil · Moral) · Courtesy · Diligence · Discernment · Discipline · Duty · Empathy · ...and so on

I look at some of those "individual virtues" and find them to be somewhere on the spectrum line between virtuous and non-virtuous, and charisma does appear to be one of those concepts that can be a virtue, or it can be most everybody's nightmare. Was the inclusion of the alpha monkey on that study island not a nightmare for most of the other primates on that island? Indeed it was. This same negative type of charisma has been seen in humans throughout our history. Some charisma has been positive in many areas like science, the military, politics, and so on. And some of those who had and have charisma are considered by many to be negative.

How do people like Churchill, Washington, Franklin, Thatcher, Trump, Hitler, Kennedy, Mussolini, Khrushchev, Biden, Putin, and so many others, how do they rise to positions of power? It's that magical property of charisma that's a big part of it. Not having had much charisma in my own life, I doubt that I will ever understand it.

Space exploration

I am totally mystified by how our (us humans) exploration of space has been stifled, essentially halted for so long! In the moon landings article we see that a total of six crewed missions (Apollo) landed on the Moon between July 1969 and December 1972, and since then, for more than fifty years, there have been no follow-ups. Since then the astronauts have pretty much spent all their time in low-Earth orbit, so I must wonder... why have we spent so much time not making progress in space exploration?

Direct from NASA

We of course must realize that the cost of space exploration is pretty high, both in monetary and in human terms. When I think of all the things we have yet to learn about space and our solar system, I have to wonder what the heck are we waiting for??? I think space explorers are some of the most courageous people on this planet, and I can't imagine any of them turning down a chance to explore Mars and other places as we zoom around the Sun. The robotics we've sent to Mars do help, but Mars rovers cannot shinny down a rope into one of those mysterious holes we've seen to find out what is down in the caves under Mars's surface. Only a human with a strong flashlight can spelunk on Mars.

In the photo on the right, it might appear as if there is a hole in the top of a circular mountain on Mars. It's actually a hole at the bottom of a circular crater on Mars. Remember... perceptions!

Thank you for reading!

^< * more to come * ^>

Un-article see also

on my Philosophy – 3rd

Aggressiveness – 12th
on Cosmology – 1st
Creativity – 16th
on Death – 2nd
Emerald breath – 6th
Evolution – 13th
Flat Earth – 19th
on Good and Evil – 10th
Grateful! – 4th
Gravity – 8th
Hideous – 20th
on the Life Energy Essence – 5th
Light's nature – 7th
Math-ugh – 15th
Mysteries – 21st
Our movement through space – 18th
Presmo – 9th
Sensory perception – 11th
The Self – 14th
Smile at Death – 17th

[1] In the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) attempts to explain chaos theory to Dr. Ellie Sattler (played by Laura Dern), specifically referencing the butterfly effect, by stating "It simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems", and "The shorthand is 'the butterfly effect'." [link]

[1]