S2/EP7: Triads and Forces – Part 4

Hi, I’m Gary

Welcome to a series of podcasts on achieving peaceful and mindful states through mental  awareness exercises, and further, gaining understanding into the laws of world creation and world maintenance, specifically as described within the works of George Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way

Each episode in this series focuses upon a particular element of this teaching, and aims to bring simple understanding to what was frequently hidden in plain sight within the various subject areas of the Fourth Way.

PICKING UP FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF IN OUR LAST PODCAST…

We were talking about the model of creation according to Physics, including creation and the interaction of the three forces, as described by the fellow in Texas…

We will start this podcast with the model of creation proposed by physics. According to Physicists, the Universe began as a point of singularity. A point so small you could not see it. It was smaller than an atom. All the matter in the Universe was contained within that point, and for whatever reason, it went bang. Particles of matter and antimatter spewed out, and then there was a war. At the end of the war, matter won… and, there were enough survivors to fill our Universe with two hundred billion galaxies, each with two hundred billion stars. 

It should be noted that the physical Universe is only 5% of the total matter in the Universe; we shall discuss the other 95%, Dark Energy and Dark Matter, in a later podcast.

For now, let’s focus on just the physical matter, the 5% that we know about. 

Most of the physical Universe is in the state of hydrogen. Hydrogen is the simplest, most abundant element in the Universe. Hydrogen occupies about 73% of the physical Universe, helium about 25%, and the other elements make up the other 2%.

So, after the war between matter and antimatter, the Universe started with basically two particles. What two particles did the Universe start with? Well, we know what the physical Universe looks like today; and, as we said, most of the physical Universe is in the state of Hydrogen.

So, let’s ask ourselves, “What is an atom of hydrogen made of?” If you said a proton and an electron, you are correct.

Bingo! A proton and an electron. Do you realize, that since hydrogen contains only a proton and an electron, that most of the Universe has no third force?

What? Are you kidding me! There are just two forces out there? You are telling me that most of the Universe has only two forces?

Yep. Most of the Universe has only two forces. Most of the Universe is made of Hydrogen, and Hydrogen consists of only two particles, the proton and the electron. 

I know we said that the Universe started with three forces.

But… be patient. We will get there. 

Let’s see, how shall I begin? I am going to tell you the story of creation. It is a fascinating story. I will start a few Nanoseconds after the Big Bang; and, maybe during the story you will understand why the Big Bang occurred.

Creation, in a nutshell: 

It all started 13.8 billion years ago.

In the hot early Universe, there were more than just protons and electrons, there were also neutrons. In fact, the protons and neutrons were equally numerous since the energy was high enough to freely exchange neutrons and protons back and forth into each other. Then, the temperature dropped below what was necessary to swap neutrons and protons back and forth into each other, and the free neutrons began to decay. This continued until deuterium became stable. That is, two protons fused and one became a neutron, and together they became deuterium. Later on, two deuterium combined, creating helium and a trace amount of lithium; thus, the free neutron decay stopped, and created an early Universe with 74% hydrogen and 26% helium.

Wow!

What happened then you ask? Well, because of gravity, huge clouds of this hydrogen-helium mix began to gather. Then, those clouds collapsed and made suns (actually, Supermassive Black Holes came first, but we will discuss suns first). These primordial suns contained protons, electrons, and some helium nuclei. That is, they did not contain atoms of hydrogen and helium… they contained plasma.

The fellow in Texas says, when he went to school, they told him that there were only three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. But, today, when kids go to school, they are told that there are actually four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma… and that ninety-eight percent of the physical Universe is in the state of plasma. Ninety-eight percent!” 

What the heck is plasma? 

Plasma is the state of matter wherein things are so hot and moving so fast that the protons in the nucleus cannot capture electrons and become nice stable atoms. Our sun is not made of atoms. It is made of plasma. Plasma consists of atomic nuclei, as well as, non-orbital electrons… all rapidly zipping around. It is just plasma. It is what is in a neon light and a fluorescent lamp. It is just charged particles. There are no atoms in the sun. It is too violent for atoms. I repeat, ninety-eight per cent of the physical Universe is in the state of plasma.

OK, out here, on the planet Earth, in the conditions in which we live, men and women get together… and some even get married. But, let’s imagine that all the men and all the women were moving at seven million miles an hour. Do you think that they would ever be able to get together and get married? Someone would need to build an air-conditioned room – cool things off a bit and slow things down… until they slowed down to, let’s say, dancing speed. At dancing speed, the men and women might be able to grab on to each other and at least start dancing. But, when things are moving very, very fast, there can be no dancing! Do you understand? … It puts a whole new meaning on dancing, doesn’t it?

Now, back to hydrogen. Hydrogen has an atomic weight of 1.00794. Why? Well, hydrogen contains one proton and one electron; and, since protons weigh almost 2,000 times more than an electron, the atomic weight of Hydrogen is basically the weight of its proton. 

However, when we get to helium, we find that helium has an atomic weight of 4.002602. OK, what was the basic atomic weight of hydrogen? One. And, what is the approximate atomic weight of helium? Four. Why? Well, helium contains two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons; and, the weight of a neutron is slightly greater than that of a proton, because neutrons are created when protons and electrons fuse; and, since electrons have almost no weight, helium has the approximate atomic weight of four, which is basically the weight of the proton, proton, neutron, and neutron in its nucleus.

Got it? Most of the Universe is plasma. Most of the Universe is just hydrogen. Most of the Universe has an atomic weight of one. Most of the Universe is just a bunch of protons and electrons zipping around in the state of plasma.

That is the result of the Big Bang. 

Other than a few helium nuclei, we ended up with a Universe that was mostly made of protons and electrons in the state of plasma, which then gathered together and made suns.

And, as the primordial plasmatic suns grew larger and larger, additional neutrons began to be made. 

This happened because the protons in the center of the suns got squished. Just like, if you laid on the floor and someone got on top of you, and someone got on top of them, and someone got on top of them… the weight on you would get heavier and heavier and heavier, until you got squished. That’s what happens in the core of a sun; the weight of the sun pushing down on the protons in its core causes two protons, which would normally repel each other, to collide and fuse.

Scientists put it this way: “Inside stars like the sun, the extreme temperature rips atoms into their components: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Under normal conditions, the mutual repulsion of individual protons ought to force them apart. However, Quantum-tunneling effects in the sun allow hot, high-speed protons to fuse into helium nuclei. This fusion reaction drives the sun’s radiance.

“In this proton-proton fusion reaction, first, two protons fuse. Usually the pair breaks apart again immediately, but once in a while one of the protons is transmuted into a neutron. The resulting proton-neutron pair is called Deuterium, a type of hydrogen. Also, a positron and a neutrino are emitted. When the positron encounters its antiparticle (an electron), the pair annihilates to form a gamma ray.

“Then, another proton collides with the deuterium nucleus, forming a helium-3 nucleus (two protons and one neutron) plus a gamma ray. The gamma rays eventually work their way up from the core of the sun and out into space in the form of sunlight.

“After which, two helium-3 nuclei collide, creating helium-4 (a helium nucleus with two protons and two neutrons… plus two extra protons that become liberated).”

Woosh, that’s a big scientific chunk!

There is also another way to make neutrons, it is called ‘electron capture.’ It happens when a proton and an electron collide and fuse, turning into a neutron and a neutrino.

As a result, the Universe, eventually, started to independently create neutrons, the third force.

However, you should know that when a neutron comes into existence in the Universe there is a moment of unbelievable concern. That is, the instant a neutron is created, the higher guys in the Universe cringe… you cannot even imagine the terror they must be going through. Here is why. Protons are very, very stable. Scientists have figured out that a proton’s life is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years long, a 1 followed by thirty-three zeroes, a third of a googol! That is the life expectancy of a proton.

Now, I do not think anybody sat around and actually hit their stopwatch and timed it, but they all agree… that is the life of a proton.

I repeat, protons live for a third of a googol number of years; a 1 followed by thirty-three zeroes!

Pretty stable guys. They are going to be around for a very long time.

So, it is a very good thing that most of the Universe is made of hydrogen, which in turn is made of protons and electrons, who also live as long as protons. Scientists actually think that electrons live a little bit longer than protons. But what is an extra zero or two when you already have thirty-three.

Pretty good particles to start the Universe with. Start with those two, the proton and the electron. They will be around for a while.

Then, in the cores of suns, when there is proton-proton fusion or proton electron capture and neutrons are created, that is when the great concern occurs… because Our Endlessness, as well as every higher being that has ever arisen, wonders if the neutron is going to make it.

Why? Because a neutron, by itself, will not live for very long. 

OK, I will tell you the length of the life of a neutron. Would you like to know? Are you ready?

The life of a neutron is just fifteen minutes.

You are in trouble buddy – quick… start dancing!

No wonder there is an objective terror in the Universe when neutrons are created. A free neutron has been born. It has just fifteen minutes to live. After which, it will decay into a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino.

Oh my God!

Now you know why free neutrons began to decay at a faster rate than they were produced, and only became stable after they became deuterium! Fortunately, thereafter, the free neutrons that are born inside the cores of suns, where there are twenty-seven billion trillion gazillion million protons, have a good chance of becoming bonded with a proton and becoming Deuterium. Then, those neutrons will enjoy the life expectancy of the proton, because they got married… and can finally dance. 

Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is just a proton with a neutron stuck to it; a bound proton and neutron.

Thus, the suns started making deuterium in their cores. First, they made neutrons, which only had fifteen minutes to live. Second, the neutrons got hitched to protons and became deuterium. Then, there was a huge sigh of relief in the Universe, “Phew, disaster avoided… those neutrons are going to live longer than just fifteen minutes. They are going to enjoy the long-life of the protons.”

After which, we can finally start building the periodic table of elements.

Isn’t that fascinating? I mean, who would have thought that a neutron would have a lifespan of only fifteen minutes. Good thing God did not start the Universe with just neutrons.

But maybe… He did. Maybe that was what was in the singularity. Maybe, when all the forces were together, in the center of the black hole, it was like a neutron. Maybe, God is like a neutron – all forces in the same place. We know that protons and electrons can combine in the Universe and become neutrons, like in neutron stars; and, if the neutron stars are massive enough, they become a black holes. Perhaps that same process works in reverse.

If so, creation went from a God particle (all forces at the same place) to a Universe of separated forces.

Thus, it went from a state of being one, the neutron (everybody together in the same place), to a state of being two, the proton and electron (two stable particles that could independently exist for a third of a google number of years), which could then recreate the neutron, bond with it, and give it dependent stability. Thus, allowing the God particle to also exist in the Universe.

Maybe, the neutron was safe and did not decay in the center of a black hole, because it was protected by a different set of laws; laws that only exist inside the black hole.

Stephen Hawking came up with a theory about black holes, he said that black holes decay. You have heard of that, right? Well, that fits nicely with Gurdjieff’s diminishing Holy Sun Absolute scenario. 

If God was like a neutron at the center of a black hole, where all the forces were united, and if the black hole was decaying, then, the black hole would keep getting smaller and smaller until it ceased being a black hole and could no longer protect the neutron. 

That sounds pretty serious. Serious enough to force Our Endlessness to create the now existing Megalocosmos, wherein the neutron, the third force, could be independently created and ultimately find dependent stability by dancing with a proton, thus, sparking creation and producing something that could flow back into the Holy Sun Absolute and halt its diminishment.

OK. So, physical matter was thrown out into the Universe… to the fate of time, where it could coalesce in the cores of suns, make neutrons – the God particle – and add a third force to the Universe. Then, the protons and neutrons made deuterium; two deuterium collided, fused, and made helium; three helium fused and made carbon; a carbon plus a helium fused and made oxygen; an oxygen and a carbon fused and made silicon; and, in large suns, it kept on going until the suns finally started to make iron. But there, we run into the next snag in the model of creation.

It seems that suns cannot make any elements beyond iron. Nuclear fusion can only make the first twenty-six elements of the periodic table, but no more.

Nuclear fusion occurs in the cores of suns and keeps the suns from collapsing. That is, you have all this stuff in a pile, pushing down, and you have explosions in the center, which are created by nuclear fusion, pushing up, which in turn are created as elements are made. How? Well, the mass of each new element is less than the mass of the elements that combine to create it, thus, that difference in mass is released by E=Mc2, creating nuclear explosions… and, the balance, between the weight of the suns pushing down and the nuclear explosions pushing up, keeps the suns in a state of equilibrium.

OK, the nuclear explosions in the cores of the suns are pushing up against the matter of the suns, which are constantly pushing down. However, scientists tell us that very soon after the suns start to produce iron, that the nuclear explosions cease, and the suns implode.

This implosion causes the suns to explode in one of the most catastrophic explosions we know of this side of the Big Bang, called a supernova. But why does a sun blow up when it starts to produce iron in its core? Well, it seems that iron absorbs heat. And, without heat, no additional elements can be fused; and, since no additional elements can be fused the nuclear explosions cease. And, without nuclear explosions, the suns can no longer counteract the weight of themselves pushing down…. and gravity wins, Kaboom!

Oh my God!

They go supernova and spew out the first twenty-six elements into, what is called, a nebula.

An amazing journey. We started with a singularity, all forces together. Followed by a Big Bang, which spewed out protons and electrons… the two stable particles that make up most of the Universe. After which, the protons and electrons combined in the cores of suns, and made a third particle, the neutron, which quickly grabbed onto a proton and started dancing.

So, although most of the Universe is still in the state of hydrogen, it now has three forces.

IN THE NEXT PODCAST, we will talk about what happens when the third force was produced, and the tricks the Universe used inorder to make heavier and heavier elements.

Thank you for listening, and, if you’d like to know more about the subjects and exercises we’ve been covering in these podcasts, including the book and guide that underpins all of this, and how we work with it, you can find us at The Dog Pub Dot Com. That’s T H E D O G P U B DOT COM

Goodbye until next time.