The Tao Of Physics

The Tao of Physics questions many biases about Western science and Eastern spirituality, showing the close connections between the principles of physics and those of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism.

One of the most disrupting concepts in Einstein’s theory of relativity was that time and space are interdependent. Since light takes time to reach the human eyes, the further an event takes place from an observer, the later it occurs.

Before this 1905 discovery, time was the absolute, measurable frame in which everything happened. Now, it is the fourth dimension of our formerly three-dimensional space.

This means it’s impossible to speak about time without speaking of space and vice versa. Each of them only exists in connection with the other, an inseparable entity called space-time.

But there’s more! Einstein even discovered that matter and energy are also just two different aspects of the same reality. This is the deep meaning of his famous formula: E = mc2. Any amount of energy can be represented as a certain mass at a certain speed and vice versa.

Until 1905, there were 2 theories about light. Newton had declared it was made of small photon particles while Huygens had observed light could behave like energy. In the end, they were both right in light of Einstein’s theory.

Moreover, modern physics has revealed that if you observe something at a quantum level, you’ll connect with it, becoming someway part of the scene. In quantum mechanics, there’s no such thing as an outer observer!

Due to these many equivalents, modern physicists now agree that everything in the universe connects, quite literally!

In 1929, the astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe was born around 10 billion years ago from a big explosion called the Big Bang. Since then, it had kept on slowly expanding.

Most physicists assume this growth will go on forever, but others say it will slow down one day and maybe even begin to contract. In either case: its movement is never going to stop. Movement is a fundamental rule for all entities big and small, from planets to subatomic particles.

Protons, neutrons, electrons, all of these only exist in dynamic structures. Particles continuously emerge and subside, energy patterns flow, incessantly changing from one form to another.

When stable, atomic particles give birth to matter as we see it in our everyday lives. But they’re never still. They keep oscillating rhythmically.

Going back to Einstein’s famous equation, matter turning into energy and energy into matter is another, neverending cycle of movement.

Energy itself is also a form of movement in the form of waves and particle vibrations. Clearly, the dance of elements in our universe never stops!