SCIENCE AND RELIGION: "FAR OUT" APPROACHES TO LIFE

What in the world is it all about?

If you’re a fan of science fiction or fantasy then chances are, at some point, you’ve read a book, seen a movie, or watched a TV series that explored the concept of multiple universes. The idea being that, within this thing we call time and space, there are other dimensions where reality differs from our own, sometimes slightly, sometimes radically. Interestingly enough, this idea is not restricted to fiction and fantasy.

In science, this is known as the "Multiverse Theory", which states that there may be multiple or even an infinite number of universes (including the universe we consistently experience) that together comprise everything that exists -- the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical laws and constants that describe them. In this context, multiple universes are often referred to as parallel universes because they exist alongside our own.

The term was coined in 1895 by the American philosopher and psychologist William James. However, the scientific basis of it arose from the study of cosmological forces like black holes and problems arising out of the Big Bang theory. 

In the scientific community, there is the unsavory truth that if a multiverse can never be falsified then it has no place in science. The fabric of the theory rests in ways where the results will either point us to a multiverse or disprove the theory altogether. Throughout all this, the important fact remains: theories must have a way to be tested and proven. Otherwise, in my view, you have nothing.

“It is hard to write theories that survive the proof of reality. Few survive. Utilizing this filter, we have been able to develop modern science, a technological society, to cure illness, to feed billions. All this works thanks to a simple idea: do not trust your fancies. Keep only the ideas that can be tested. If we stop doing so, we go back to the style of thinking of the Middle Ages.” 

~~ Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli.

This stretches to religion as well. I have no trouble with the idea of a Christian God, a Hindu God, an Islamic God. In fact, if these religions (as I believe) help people cope with life and if they inspire their followers to be gentler and kinder to one another then they are definitely beneficial to mankind. 

You know the thinking...Pray for change and if it happens, it was God’s blessing upon you. Pray for change and if nothing happens, it was not in God’s design. What we know of the world is because God allowed us to know it. What we don’t yet know of the world is because God declared that we needn’t know it. Everything in life can be traced back to God and explained through him; everything in life serves only to strengthen a follower’s faith.

It is taught that one’s faith must remain strong in God even in times of great suffering. Yet it seems to me that the opposite is true in science — doubt is encouraged. It is only through doubt and through constant stressing of our scientific beliefs that we can arrive at the ultimate truth.

And, yet, perhaps the multiverse and God are alike in a way.

The idea of the multiverse is a dramatic display of fantasy. Every possibility manifests itself on some foreign version of this wet and flowery Earth. The many lives some of us lead can overwhelm us in the best sense of the word — we can spend hours imagining how the many versions of ourselves are choosing to spend their time, somewhere out in that incandescent cosmic ocean. 

And so it goes with religion that there is an omniscient, nurturing God in the heavens and He beckons for followers with open arms. In this story we are protected and guided, our suffering has a purpose, our biggest questions needn’t be answered because some things are meant always to remain a mystery. In this story, a beautiful paradise awaits after death. 

In a non-religious view of the world, nothing awaits us after death and no one is watching over us as a protector or parental figure. In both instances we live out our full and unpredictable lives, navigating its rough earthy terrain as best we can. In both instances, we approach death unsure of what to expect on the other side but hoping that it will bring us peace.

Which is the better story? That’s the one we tell ourselves, and that is the one we choose to believe.

Then, of course, there are those who are neutral on the subject, not knowing what to believe -- or choosing not to believe anything they cannot see or comprehend. Universally speaking, in the overall scheme of things, they merely exist ever so temporarily in the present on this planet, like you and me and the rest of them out there.

SURPRISE PHOTOS OF MY GREAT UNCLE AND AUNT FROM A FELLOW GENEALOGIST

       GREAT Uncle Arthur Wright and Aunt Melinda (McCormick) Wright, seen in circa 1895 photo. They were married in 1879.

I have found that genealogists in general are a fraternal bunch. We literally wet our pants over the penetration of brick walls and unanticipated research discoveries. We not only doggedly trace ancestry, but with rare exceptions we share a common inclination, or willingness, to share findings with equally like-minded and keen history and genealogical buffs.

With almost 25 years of conducting family research under my belt and membership in a number of historical societies and ancestor branch groups, not to mention DNA testing that has taken on a life of its own, I have made countless friends and exchanged bundles of information and priceless photographs.

It is this giving and taking spirit, coupled with occasional peer acknowledgment, that is the icing on the cake for a genealogist.

Possible wedding photo of Arthur
(with hair) and Melinda Wright
taken in 1879.

This past week I engaged in an interesting dialogue on the Essex County Branch of Ontario Ancestors  Facebook group site with a chap by the name of Rick McCormick. He is a resident of St. Catharines, a dedicated family tree researcher and host of an impressive McCormick family web site. It just so happened that Rick had discovered a number of Wrights in his ancestral mix, a fact that I was well aware of -- a brother (Arthur) of my grandfather Wesley Wright having married a McCormick in 1870 and the daughter (Deborah) of my great, great grandfather Philip Wright having exchanged marital vows with another McCormick much earlier, in 1820.

Several other Wright/McCormick marriages would follow throughout the 1800s in the small, relatively tight-knit Essex County pioneer settlement of Colchester South on the Detroit River, giving Rick and I reason for follow-up communication. The bonus for me coming when he sent me two photographs of the aforementioned great uncle Arthur Wright and his wife Melinda Jane McCormick, circa 1880 and 1895 (see above). Rick originally obtained copies of the photos, along with other records, from the extensive files of the HEIRS group in Harrow.

The photographs were particularly well-received by me because heretofore the oldest image of any Wright ancestor in my collection was of grandfather Wes, undoubtedly taken at the time of his marriage to grandmother Louise Reddick in 1896 (see below). It was the third marriage for my grandfather, his previous two wives having passed away at extremely young ages. Wrights were low-key by nature and obviously camera shy.

Arthur and Melinda lived out their lives on a family farm in the Colchester area while Wesley left farm life after the death of his 18-year-old first wife, Mary Klie, and moved on to Dresden in 1877.  

Upon receipt of the photos I reciprocated with three sheets of relative lineage, complete with birth, marriage and death dates, to help Rick fill in gaps on his already substantial family tree.

As I say, experiences such as this are the periodic payoff for untold hours of mind-numbing research and sleepless nights on a computer documenting it all. Only a bonafide genealogist would appreciate that fact.

Grandparents Louise and Wesley Wright in a photo taken soon after their wedding in 1896.
*If interested you can view further Wright family history at https://mywrightstory.blogspot.com/