axj
The Living Force
In the August 16, 2014 session the C's recommended becoming more aware of the cosmos, among other things:
Just how big is our physical universe?
What is interesting is that recent measurements show that the universe is "flat", meaning that it is infinite and does not "curve back" on itself to create a ball or some other shape. Yet the measuring of the flatness has a limit, meaning that the physical universe could be curved after all.
The most interesting part is that even if it is curved and not infitite, the universe must be at least 37 trillion light years in diameter. For comparison, our observable bubble has a diameter of about 93 billion light years.
Here is a summary of how the minimum size of 37 trillion light years was arrived at:
There is one basic cosmological question that I think has not been asked yet:Q: (L) Okay, is there any final bit of advice, or any last thing to say before we shut down for the night?
A: Just work daily at becoming more aware on three levels
1. Body and immediate environment,
2. Wider world affairs,
3. Cosmos and spirit.
Q: (L) Shouldn't "spirit" go with "Body and immediate environment"?
A: No, it is via the first steps that one achieves cosmic consciousness.
Q: (L) I don't understand.
(Chu) You have to work on the body and environment, and then understand the wider world at first. And then you can develop cosmic consciousness and spirit.
(L) Oooh. So in other words, to achieve cosmic consciousness, i.e. true spiritual advancement, you have to expand your field of vision to be very wide?
A: Exactly. Those who suggest that you must look only within live in a singular bubble.
Q: (L) Alright. Anything else?
A: No. Goodbye.
Just how big is our physical universe?
What is interesting is that recent measurements show that the universe is "flat", meaning that it is infinite and does not "curve back" on itself to create a ball or some other shape. Yet the measuring of the flatness has a limit, meaning that the physical universe could be curved after all.
The most interesting part is that even if it is curved and not infitite, the universe must be at least 37 trillion light years in diameter. For comparison, our observable bubble has a diameter of about 93 billion light years.
Here is a summary of how the minimum size of 37 trillion light years was arrived at:
Our best measurements indicate that the Universe is spatially flat on the largest scales: it’s neither positively nor negatively curved, to a precision of 0.25%, or about 1-part-in-400. Because we live in three dimensions, 400 times the radius means (400)3 times the volume, or more than 64 million times as much space. If we assume that our current laws of physics are correct, we can set limits on how large, at least, the Universe must be before it curves back on itself.
But, big as that is, it still isn’t infinite. A lower bound of the Universe being at least 18 trillion light-years in all directions is tremendous, but it’s still finite. Assuming that the Universe contains no topological weirdness, like curving back on itself while still being spatially flat (like having a geometry akin to a hypertorus), observations of the cosmic microwave background and the large-scale structure tell us that the unobservable part of the Universe must be at least 37 trillion light-years in diameter.