It never occurred to me that I was prejudiced. In fact, I was inspired to leave the life I knew as a young white man to be a Christian missionary in Africa. Yet, until that time at age 22 in my little town in Colorado, I don’t remember ever meeting a black person or knowing anything about black history. I just knew I wanted to know and serve God. As I prepared to depart my country for that foreign land, I felt an inward restraint so strong that I canceled my plans with Africa Inland Mission. In the coming years, several events and relationships impacted my decision and changed my life. My desire had been admirable, but difficult circumstances revealed that I was not like I had hoped that I was. It would take 49 years before I went on my first visit to Kenya.

Watts

Amid a complicated set of circumstances, I found myself in Los Angeles—alone, far from home, and having made decisions that canceled everything that I had accomplished in college and learned from my numerous, hopeful mentors. Suddenly I needed a job. Not knowing why, I was impressed to apply for a teaching position in Watts. This was soon after the riots and fires of the mid-sixties.

When I applied to L.A. City Schools, Superintendent Baer said that in all of Los Angeles only one teaching position was open. It was in Watts! I went to Charles Drew Jr. High for an interview with the principal, Mr. Henrikson. He told me I could have the job if I wanted it, but he wanted to assure me I would be a failure. I was white, and I would be a teacher. I would face nothing but rebellion among the 1800 black students and represent authority. Having a strong conviction, I surprised him. I said “Fine, I will take the job.”

Suddenly, I was a white teacher in a black school. I was to teach plastics and other industrial subjects, of which I knew absolutely nothing. I would have as many as 44 students in my shop classes. On my second day, a riot broke out. It was chaos. My students threw my two desks into the walls and tore down some of the plaster. They were all screaming “Get outta here Whitey and don’t ever come back!” I ran out of my shop door, across the teachers’ parking lot and across the campus to hide in the Counselor’s Office under Mr. Kerr’s desk. He was a black man, the former teacher of my shop classes. He knew if I were a failure he would have to return to that impossible job.

I cried on the way to school and quit every day for three months. In the agony of my situation, I learned things about myself. I discovered that my love for God was mostly doctrinal, and my love for people mostly theoretical. In the next four years, 700 students passed through my classes. I had as many as four death threats on my life in a single week. My students sometimes started fights in class, chased others with a hack saw and chisel, threw a hammer at others, threw orange juice at me during recess, and more. In my constant distress, one day I went into my supply room during class, slammed the door and just stood there, cursing them all. I was frustrated and angry that many saw my white skin and cursed me for the same reason. I didn’t see people. I didn’t see faces. I just saw black bodies in motion. And I suddenly saw the prejudice and hatred in my own heart.

Where had that little missionary in me gone? A light dawned inside of me—something was wrong in my own heart. The situation had not made me prejudiced. It only exposed what was deep inside of me already. Perhaps my students had the same problem. I cried out to the living God and realizations began.  My hatred began to turn to a genuine love that I previously only thought I had.

Soon, I was elected Department Chairman, and my students had responded to my changing view and feelings. I brought many of them home with me on weekends. I had no “teacher’s pet.” Rather, it was a rivalry, a great honor to be invited to Mr. and Mrs. Nelson’s apartment for the weekend. In my third year, students prepared a project display for the Los Angeles Industrial Crafts Fair. Of 34 Junior High Schools, my students took First Place, a phenomenal accomplishment.

By that time, I had begun to see them as people, individuals, creations of a loving God whom everyone can relate to. I wasn’t “color blind.” I saw color as a beautiful gift, the more diverse the better. To this day, Ricky, Michael, Louis and the others remain in my heart. If there were ever a need, I knew they and the others would defend me to the death, as I also would have for them. I failed a lot, but a lot was gained—in them and in me. Watts had become my Africa.

Transition

Between my entrance into the black community and the present time, I have had countless experiences of peoples with complexions, languages, and cultures different from mine. When I discovered the depths of my own prejudice and depravity while teaching in Watts, I opened my heart deeper than I could have ever known possible. Since that time, I have grown, filled with love of God and love of all people.

Expansion

Half-way through my doctoral program 42 years after teaching at Watts, I was required to present a Forum Essay to students, faculty, and the public. My essay was on Poetry. The essay’s impact was significant. The critiquing professors were all known to be incredibly sophisticated, daunting, and tough. No critiques being offered, the chairman concluded by saying that during his 14 years at Oxford Graduate School (OGS) there had never been a student’s presentation that was so outstanding that no one thought it could be improved. The discussion was then opened up to the audience for responses. One impactful, positive comment came from a highly esteemed, black professor. Another wonderful comment in the audience came from a successful black woman, my esteemed colleague. The President of OGS later asked if I would extend my Forum Essay to a doctoral dissertation. Eventually, she also arranged for me to meet the esteemed Dr. Maya Angelou.

Dr. Maya Angelou

Through amazing circumstances, among a luncheon of 500 black women and I in Charlotte, NC, I heard Dr. Angelou speak. Weeks later, my wife and other guests were sitting at her lunch table, an exquisite affair! I had read much of her stunning life story but physically being with her vastly enlarged my views of the black community, of their suffering, struggles, and successes. On one occasion in her home, we sat with Dr. Angelou and Oprah Winfrey for a casual discussion of more than one hour. The night she invited us to stay overnight in her home, she asked me to autograph one of my books for her and then ordered eight more copies for her friends. She included us in her Annual Five-Day-Celebration of Thanksgiving in Winston-Salem among her closest biological and social friends.

From my friend Dr. Maya Angelou, I learned of her great involvement with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Because of her, I became acquainted with the daughter of Malcolm X as we were seated in the VIP section at the U.S. Post Office inauguration of the “Maya Angelou Stamp.” Because of her, I have great friends among the black community in America and with Africans of many countries. I even got to go on a fantastic visit to see Mama Sarah, President Obama’s grandmother in Kenya. Five weeks before she passed away in 2014, Dr. Angelou designated me to help design, build, and launch a traveling, educational museum of her life and work. Her personal assistant of more than 15 years continues to call me and stay overnight with us in Nashville occasionally as he is crisscrossing our great nation. And so much more…

Summary

The experiences and perspectives that I have shared in this discussion were pivotal adventures of my life, but there are countless other stories of impact to my own life—of concept, of sub-culture, and appreciation of the black community. The relevant enlightenment and spiritual renewal of my heart has included people of every culture, religion, and complexion whom I know from all around the world. It is through experiencing persons in their context with mine, serving and participating in mutual events in my home and theirs, that my appreciation has grown, expanded, and been shared. It may be that others have found the need to discover their own inward condition and realize a journey such as mine. The joyful overflow of my life’s adventure thus far has led me to publish more than 25 books on family, spiritual guidance, and work, relevant to all. My contribution to celebrating Black History Month here may be small, but it is personal, it is real, and it is mine.

Gravitational waves can be defined as the vibration of space-time. Sky is an ocean in which the waves are stationary.

When you throw a rock into the water, when a taut rope is plucked, when a spring is compressed and then released, or when our larynx vibrates, what forms is a wave. In each case, the medium where the wave forms is different: water, air, etc. Interestingly, light waves do not need a medium to travel.  A common feature of all kinds of waves is that they have wavelengths, frequencies and amplitudes. Another important feature they have is that there needs to be a source that triggers the wave. A spring, for example, needs to be compressed to produce the wave.

Gravitational waves, on the other hand, can be defined as the vibration of space-time. These waves were predicted by Einstein in 1916 in relation to the general theory of relativity. Let us consider that all interstellar and intergalactic space is filled up with a substance similar to water. Then when, say, two black holes collide, space itself ripples like water. In fact, discussions have long continued over the existence of ether, a substance that forms the texture and essence of matter. If there are waves in space, then it is highly likely that there is ether that fills up space as well.

In a very interesting narration, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is reported to have suggested that heavens are not a vacuum: “The sky is a wave held back” (Tirmidhi, Tafsir surah, 57/1). Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, in his interpretation of this hadith, says, “[Sky] is an ocean in which the waves are stationary” (The Gleams, Twelfth Gleam); in other words, heavens are a sea whose waves have settled, calmed and become still. The Qur’anic verse 36:40 reads “It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day. All (the celestial bodies and systems) float (swim) in an orbit (determined for each).” We can infer from this verse that space is likened to a sea because floating or swimming can occur in a substance but not in a vacuum.

The discovery of gravitational waves

Gravitational waves were discovered by a team of experimental physicists on February 11, 2016, that is, exactly one hundred years after they were predicted by Einstein in 1916, and the discovery earned three physicists, Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish, Kip S. Thorne, the Nobel Prize in 2017. The LIGO observatory (www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw) used an extremely sensitive interferometer to detect the gravitational waves produced by the collision of two black holes, one having 29 times the mass of the sun and the other 36, 1.3 billion years ago. The researchers used such a precise mechanism that it (the interferometer) could measure the distance to the nearest star to an accuracy smaller than the width of a human hair.

The LIGO observatory used an extremely sensitive interferometer to detect the gravitational waves produced by the collision of two black holes, one having 29 times the mass of the sun and the other 36, 1.3 billion years ago.

The working principle of an interferometer is based on the idea of splitting a laser beam from a single source into two components and then recombining them. The split beams get to the target at the same time after diverging at a right angle and being reflected back from two mirrors. Scientifically speaking, there is not any phase difference between the two. However, if the beams are subject to an effect like gravitational waves, the waves cannot get to the target at the same time, or in scientific terms, an interference pattern is formed on the screen because of the phase difference. In the same way, the waves generated by the collision of two black holes had an impact on the movements of the perpendicular laser beams as they ran past the area that housed the interferometer built by the LIGO team and caused a time difference in their arrival at the detector. In this experiment, the effect of the gravitational waves was measured by directing laser lights through L-shaped vacuum tunnels four kilometers long. The length of the tunnels was so precisely adjusted as to measure a difference, if any, as small as a proton.

The reason why the laser interferometer was so finely tuned is that the waves generated by two colliding black holes are so infinitesimally weak that only such an experimental mechanism could capture them. In other words, the experiment had to be precise beyond the atomic scale because the gravitational waves that reached the solar system could change the distance between the sun and the earth by just the size of an atom. To reiterate, the mechanism was designed so precisely that it can detect differences between laser beams as short as ten-thousandths the size of a proton. It should be remembered that a proton is a very, very small particle in the nucleus of an atom with a diameter of 10^-15 (one-million millionth) of a millimeter.

Furthermore, the gravitational waves were discovered simultaneously by two separate interferometers, which were located at a distance of 3220 km from each other. The reason for the dual measurement tools was to ensure that the waves were indeed gravitational waves.

What has excited scientists most about the discovery of gravitational waves, besides their confirmation of Einstein’s theory, is the fact that we will be able to exploit gravitational waves in addition to light and radio waves in order to explore space. It can be foreseen that telescopes working with gravitational waves can be developed or advanced laser interferometers can be built in space and discover other gravitational waves.

Gravitational waves are generated in space all the time. Large-scale phenomena such as the collision of two black holes or the explosion of supernovae cause ripples in the sea of space. It is highly likely that systems that can detect these waves will provide us with new information about the fabric of space and thus lead to new discoveries.

The fact that gravitational waves were discovered using technological tools is an excellent example of how technology can nurture science. Moreover, this study proves that some discoveries can only be made by big teams like those in the CERN experiments.

It is postulated that the universe rippled violently during the first creation as a result of the tremendous expansion, the effects of which might still exist and should warrant new studies. It is only a matter of time that a super-sensitive mechanism could confirm the Big Bang theory. It is believed that the gravitational waves generated at the very beginning of this expansion are still present and experimental designs such as that in the LIGO are likely to discover them. The Qur’anic verse 51: 47 is considered to be referring to this expansion: “And the heaven, We have constructed it mightily; and it is surely We Who have vast power, and keep expanding it.”

It is almost certain that technological progress will lead to new discoveries that will provide us with deeper insights into the incredible composition of the universe. Bediuzzaman describes the universe as “a rosebud, wrapped in thousands a variety of veils of unity” (The Rays, Second Ray, Third Station). Every new discovery is going to show us the magnificent secrets of this rosebud.

The eye is a miracle as it is. Even though we have a rough understanding of its basic anatomy, we are confronted with a much more complex miracle when we venture into the intricacies of its anatomy and the physiology of the act of seeing. We have theories about the many details – such as the perception and representation of mental images and their storage in the memory – but we still do not exactly know how the act of seeing works.

One of the most mysterious layers of the eye, the retina has an elaborate structure with a slew of functions. Not every eye surgeon dares touch the retina, which houses the most sensitive and special cellular layers. It is a three dimensional, crescent-shaped structure located in the back of the eye and is made up of ten super thin layers of cells that span the exterior part of the eye abutting the veins and its interiors.

Retinal layers

The ten layers that form the retina are:

1. Pigment (coloring matter) layer
2. Layer of rods and cones
3. External limiting membrane
4. Outer nuclear layer comprising rod and cone cells
5. Outer plexiform layer
6. Inner nuclear layer
7. Inner plexiform layer
8. Ganglion layer
9. Nerve fiber layer
10. Inner limiting membrane

These layers are incredibly sensitive and elaborate, and studying their intricate structure give a sense of awe.

Light for sight

Light first arrives at and penetrates through the cornea, the living glassy layer at the outermost layer of the eye. It then goes through the frontal fluid (aquesous humor) and the aperture called the pupil (pupilla). It hits the internal wall of the retina (the inside of the crescent) after passing through the lens in the eye and then the optic fluid filling up the chamber in the back. This alone is an interesting fact because it is much later that the light that gets to the retina reaches the layer of sensitive cone and rod cells, which perceive light. As these cone and rod cells are lined one after another for their protection, light reaches this outer layer of the retina after the ganglion cells, retinal layers and nuclear layers. Such an alignment leads to a reduction of acuity in the peripheral regions of the retina.

We have theories about the many details – such as the perception and representation of mental images and their storage in the memory – but we still do not exactly know how the act of seeing works

The central pit (fovea centralis)

The inner layers at the center of the retina, on the other hand, are drawn to the sides to prevent any loss in visual acuity. Resembling a pit, this section is much thinner than the periphery of the retina, so the layers that are likely to obstruct the passage of the light, and hence reduce visual acuity, are aligned specifically to allow light to directly hit cone and rod cells. Besides, cone cells, which are in charge of exact, colored sight, exist in this region, whereas rod cells, which are in charge of rough and uncolored (black and white) sight, do not.  The central pit where visual acuity is at its highest is for keen, colored, and exact sight. Why then is the rest of the retina not created for acute sight and why is this small section equipped with this ability?

As it turns out, if the entire retina had the ability to see keenly then it would not be possible for the eye to focus on a spot and accurately distinguish it from surrounding objects. If we could see the entire page of a book at a glance, for example, the lines would mix up in our brain. We would not be able to understand what we are reading. We normally start reading from the top of the written page and continue line by line as we focus on and take in each word. Our brain then can focus and perceive a single word accurately by restricting keen perception of the surrounding area.

The retinal pigment layer

The color black is known to absorb, not reflect, light. Thanks to such absorption, the layer made up of black pigments (melanin) or dyes prevents the reflection of light, which is crucial for visual acuity. This black substance functions like the black dye in the bellows of old cameras. If there were not any layer to absorb light, light would scatter off the wall inside the eyeball, thereby obscuring the sharpness between light and dark spots, which is essential for the formation of a clear image, and producing a blurry image due to the overall illumination of the retina.

People who lack this melanin pigment as a result of a genetic defect (Albinism disorder) have white hair, and they are oversensitive to light because the colored iris layer of the eye does not contain the melanin pigment, which refracts light. When an albino person enters a bright area, the light that hits the retina is reflected in all directions through the pigment-lacking retina and the white surfaces of the rigid layer underneath (sclera). Therefore, a ray of light that would normally stimulate a few cones or rods is scattered everywhere, stimulating all or most of the light receivers. As a result, visual acuity in albinos can only be between 20/100 and 20/200, even with the help of the best optical correction, which is a low value compared to 20/20 in normal sight. The joke that rabbits do not wear glasses because they eat carrots is based on the high concentration of vitamin A in this pigment, or black dye, layer of the eye. Indeed, vitamin A is a crucial factor for the health of these pigments.

Layer of rods and cones

Composed of 127 million light-sensitive receivers (photoreceptors), the retina is 0.2 mm thick at the yellow spot (macula lutea), where the image forms most clearly, and 0.1 mm thick at the edges of this area. The 120 million cylindrical rods in the retina are in charge of black and white sight (at twilight), and the 7 million tapered cones, of colored, colored and exact sight. The more common cylindrical rods are 50 µm (microns) in length and 1-5 µm in thickness. The less common cones are 40 µm (microns) in length and 3-5 µm in thickness.

The concentration of the cones increases toward the center of the retina and decreases toward the edges, to be outnumbered by the rods. In the cytoplasm of the cones and rods are stored substances that are sensitive to light (photosensitive) which break up when light contacts them and produce electricity in the cones and rods. In rods this chemical is called rhodopsin. In cones, on the other hand, are three substances corresponding to the colors red, green, and blue that are sensitive to the wavelengths of colored light. To be more exact, there are three separate cone cells that include one of these three substances. Chemically, the photosensitive substances in the cones are a little different from rhodopsins.

The destruction of rhodopsin by light energy

Rhodopsin, along with the color substances, fills up about 40% of rods and cones. They are made up of a protein called scotopsin and a molecule called retinene that is derived from vitamin A. When light energy is absorbed by rhodopsin or the color substances, rhodopsin starts to fade in as fast as one trillionth of a second. The underlying reason for this is that the electrons in the retinene (vitamin A) part of rhodopsin is activated by light, which alters the shape of the retinal molecule at a mind-boggling speed (one trillionth of a second). Extremely complicated and precise chemical and physical changes then take place. It is very difficult to monitor all of these biochemical changes, and they require specialization [1].

The regeneration of the rhodopsin destroyed by light

Rhodopsin destroyed by light is regenerated in the dark. Only in the twentieth century did we manage to partially identify the mechanism by which molecules with very specific geometric shapes decay at incredible speeds only to be regenerated later. It is wondrous that such knowledge and power are present in the cell allowing the light energy to destroy the molecule and the regeneration process is launched. The circulation between destruction and regeneration of the molecule continues throughout a lifetime [2]. Vitamin A is assigned a crucial task in the generation of rhodopsin in the dark. All-trans retinal is converted in the retina into all-trans retinol, which is then converted into 11-cys retinol with the help of an isomerase enzyme. Finally, 11-cys retinol is converted into 11-cys retinal, which in turn combines with scotopsin to form rhodopsin. Vitamin A is present both in the cytoplasm of rods and in the pigment layer of the retina. In this way, vitamin A is kept in reserve to be used for generations of new retinal. If, on the other hand, there is an excess of vitamin A in the retina, the excess amount is converted into retinal, by which the amount of light-sensitive pigment in the retina is lowered.

Night blindness

Night blindness appears in anyone who suffers a serious deficiency of vitamin A. Because there is a lack of vitamin A to be converted into retinal, rhodopsin amounts decrease dramatically. This disease is called night blindness as it is noticeable only in the dark or at night and does not affect sight during the day, due to the reduction of light for proper seeing. In daylight, however, cones can still be stimulated despite a similar decrease in color pigments. Night blindness typically only appears in people that have a low vitamin A diet because huge reserves of vitamin A are normally stored in the liver to be used for the eyes.

The human retina contains 400,000 light receptive cells per square millimeter. For comparison, this number is 680,000 in the retina of the owl, which needs to perceive even the slightest glow when hunting in the night. As another example, with 397,000 such cells the amount in the cat’s retina is almost the same as ours.

An average of 130 sight cells in the retina are connected to a ganglion (nerve node) cell. Constituting the nerve of sight, or the optic nerve (nervus opticus), every nerve fiber is connected to a ganglion cell. It takes about 15-60 seconds for the retinal optic nerves to adapt from dark to light, while it takes as long as 30-45 minutes to adapt from light to dark. The visual range of optic cells, i.e. the lowest and highest amount of light the eye can perceive, is between 10^-7 and 10⁶ nanometers. Light that is below or above this range is invisible to us because of its insufficient or overwhelming wavelength.

All the colors we see in the world are named according to the wavelengths absorbed and reflected by optic cells. The spectrum of the optic cells lies between red and violet, which is the limit of visible light for humans. Light with a wavelength of 400 nm is perceived as violet, while light with a wavelength of 760 nm is perceived as red. Our eyes cannot see infrared and ultraviolet light. Some animals, however, are known to see light beyond these limits. For example, we know that bees can see certain shades of ultraviolet light, which helps them find flowers to pollenate.

Clearly, it is not an easy job to elaborate on the divine art manifested in such a small area as the retina. Complicated structures and reactions that require specialization even to comprehend keep taking place smoothly every moment we look around. At least we can be thankful for this amazing gift of vision given to us free of charge so that we can recognize the universe.

Notes

[1] It causes the cys form of the molecule to change into the all-trans form. Although the all-trans form has the same chemical structure as the cys form, its chemical structure is different in that it is a flat rather than angular molecule. With the impact of light photons, the position of the molecule in space changes, yet its chemical composition remains the same. Because the position of the reactive regions of all-trans retinal no longer fit in with the reactive regions on scotopsin protein, the molecule is pulled off. The product that forms at that moment is batorhodopsins, which is a partly destroyed combination of all-trans retinal and scotopsin. An extremely unstable compound, batorhodopsin turns into lumirhodopsin in nanoseconds, into metarhodopsin I in microseconds, into metarhodopsin II in about one millisecond, and finally into decomposed products, scotopsin and all-trans retinal much more slowly (in seconds).

[2] The first step in the reformation of rhodopsin is the recycling of all-trans retinal into 11-cys retinal, which requires ATP energy and is catalyzed by retinal isomerase enzyme. Once created, 11-cys retinal combines with scotopsin to form rhodopsin.

How can animals in the wild hunt during the night as if it were day? A remarkable biological feature acts as a pair of “natural” night vision goggles.

Animals can move and even hunt in the pitch-dark of the night. How do these animals see comfortably in the dark? How are their eyes different from ours?

Anatomically, the eye consists of three layers called the Tunica fibrosa (outer layer), the Tunica vasculosa (mid layer), and the Tunica nervosa (retina). The outer layer of the eye is composed of the sclera and cornea; the middle section of choroidea, corpus ciliare, and the iris; and the inner section of the retina.

Light rays reflected off objects first pass through the eye’s translucent layer (the cornea), then into the black round part located in the front of the eye (pupillae, or pupil), and later go through the lenses. The colored section around the pupil, covered by smooth muscles, is in charge of regulating the amount of light entering the eye. The real and inverted image of an object is projected on the retina by the refraction of light through the lens; the image is transmitted to the optical center of the brain as a result of nerve cell stimulation via the optical nerves. Sight happens as a result of these causal chains.

Now, there is a twist to all this: the optical center in the brain accepts spots that do not emit light as black. For humans, this means a loss of sight. Black objects are not visible because they absorb and keep all the light reaching them.

How could these animals, without night vision goggles, see in pitch blackness despite having the same optical mechanisms as humans?

The answer to this question was hidden in an anatomic structure (tapetum lucidum) located in the eyes of some vertebrates. This special structure, lacking in humans, monkeys, squirrels, birds, red kangaroos, and some other mammals, is found in equines, ruminants, and many carnivores. This structure is located in the cytoplasm of the choroidea layers in between the innermost light sensitive ocular layer and sclera, and it acts like a biological reflector. With its crystalline composition of varying colors from golden yellow to white, tapetum lucidum is a wonder of creation. The eyes of these animals shine when a light source is projected due to the aforementioned structure.

The primary task of this formation is to reflect the light which is projected to the rear section of the eye again without absorbing it. This happens due to the crystalline makeup. Thus, lower light levels are enhanced by the repeated reflection in the eye, and sight is enabled for animals. The second job of Tapetum lucidum is to elevate the sensitivity of the retina to light in order to transmit signals with no stimulation strength to the optical center.

This reminds us of night vision goggles. Night vision cameras are electro-optical devices that strengthen the light that is present. Light enters this device through the lens and hits the charged cathode, which has a lot of high energy. The energy load hits the phosphorous screen where the image is focused after passing through the vacuum inside the charger. The image is an enhanced picture on the phosphorous screen and it is not visible directly through the object. Tapetum lucidum however, is such an artistic work that it cannot even be compared with the night vision systems of technology. While the lifespan of a night vision system is only 2,500–4,000 hours (104–167 days), animals with Tapetum lucidum can benefit from this for a lifetime. The newest night vision systems, with a maximum optic range of 30-120 meters, cannot provide sight under light conditions one fourth of the moon’s illumination strength, whereas animals with Tapetum lucidum can see objects hundreds of meters away in much dimmer light.

This isn’t the only example of how masterfully and diverse eyes can be. Damseflies have over 30,000 simple eyes, called ommatids; eagles can see their prey from thousands of feet above them.

By the principle that “certain things are appreciated best in their absence,” if we imagine a dark night in which we are unable to see anything and cannot even step a foot safely, we can perhaps understand that Tapetum lucidum is a great blessing for these animals.

Reference

Veterinary Ophthalmology (2004) 7, 1,11–22. Comparative morphology of the tapetum lucidum (among selected species), F. J. Ollivier,* D. A. Samuelson, D. E. Brooks, P. A.Lewis, M. E. Kallberg and A. M. Komáromy.

Is this life?
This drastic contrast?
This black and white?
This sunshine and rain?
Is it?

Is it normal
for worlds to collide?
Combine?
Crash?

And these emotions?
To effervesce differently, yet be present,
in the same world,
the same existence.

It is.
And, apparently this is life,
When your mind and heart will be playing a tug of war,
and you sit,
you sit and realize it’s your choice.

See…
It’s your choice to visualize what you want to see. It’s your choice to just stay in the sunshine, ignoring the rain.
It’s your choice to just stare at that white and don’t look back at that black.

So this is what they meant,
when they told us to look at the cup, half full.

Even when you’re grieving the half that is gone, half is still there.

It’s the choice.
It’s the choice to chose how we look at our lives, the good and the bad.
How we smile in our happiness,
and find strength in our sadness.

How we laugh when we hear something funny,
something fun,
and hold those tears
when the sadness stings our hearts.

It’s our choice.
Our choice to be those optimisms
who just look at the glass as half full.

And who know,

deep down,
Even if the glass isn’t half full,
even if it’s only a quarter, or even a tenth, full
it will still, to some degree, be full.

And that it’ll get better.
It will get fuller.
Just know
that it will get better.
It will fill up.

No one’s glass
is constantly full…

The world may not have ended on December 21, 2012, but that does not mean it won’t end at all. So what will be the force that will disperse this robust system of ours, rendering all forces including gravity obsolete, and forcing the sun and planets out of their orbits?

The universe contains billions of heavenly systems that travel interdependently in a perfect and harmonious fashion. What could be the obvious cause or force that could disrupt this great arrangement, deorbit the stars and planets, and make every other force ineffective including gravity? If we ponder upon the verses of the Holy Qur’an, “When the sun is folded up (and darkened). And when the stars fall (losing their luster)” (At-Takwir, 81:1−2), “And when the heaven is torn away (with all the truths becoming manifest)” (At-Takwir, 81:11) with our current cosmological advances, will Black holes be the cause that will likely destroy the Sun and even devour the light of stars so that they are unable to function?

Black holes are considered to have the potential to cause a universal apocalypse. It seems plausible that with such gravitational power of Black holes, mountains would be casted away, and magma displacement via volcanic eruptions could lead to major earthquakes. There are a couple of recent geologic studies pointing out the possibility that the gravity of the sun and moon play a role in development of earthquakes. The 7-8 meter rise in seas and 35-40 cm rise in land caused by lunar and solar eclipses are considered to be a possible factor among many factors that triggers an earthquake. Earthquakes of 12-15 Richter scale magnitude can occur because of the gravitational force of Black holes. The biggest earthquake ever recorded was of 9.2 magnitude; such that if it happens again, it can lead to a major catastrophe in a very short time.

Let’s not forget that we are residing on a globe filled with fire in its center. Gases that make up the atmosphere are held only with help of planetary gravity. One of the forces that will boil all the waters away and let all the gases escape the planet could be Black hole gravitation. The air in our atmosphere and resulting “air pressure” can be destroyed by Black hole gravity. Oceans would start boiling violently and then might evaporate off the planet. In this case, living things would suffer severe structural damages since all life forms are composed mostly of water (~70%). That is why astronauts wear a special space suit filled with air made up of normal atmospheric pressure when they leave the atmosphere. We should also keep in mind that trillions of heavenly bodies (asteroids, meteors, and comets) located in the two asteroid belts (Orion and Kuiper) may be freed from their gravitational control by the vacuum impact of the Black hole, causing colossal cosmic collisions.

The disruption of gravitational balance

There is a sensitive relationship between the elements of the universe, such as electromagnetic, nuclear forces and an apocalypse may result from a disruption of these.

According to the general relativity theory, the time-space plane can be rolled or wrinkled up like a paper. The gravitational force of black holes can cause the displacement of stars which are interconnected through weak web of attractions. As if a piece of net takes a specific shape when loaded with heavy objects, the web of space-time, also known as the cosmos, could be distorted and even torn apart by black holes with their infinite mass “sitting” in it. This is a characteristic of black holes. A possible explanation for this might be that via elimination of common physical laws, the black hole region could become the gateway to metaphysical dimensions. Cosmos of space and time is described as strong-built, fracture-free in the Qur’an; “You do not see any fault or incongruity in the creation of the all Merciful. Look yet again: can you see any rifts?” (Al-Mulk, 67:3). However, in verses about the apocalypse, cosmic fractures that will occur is constantly repeated; “Day will come, land to be transformed into another, skies to be converted into others” (Ibrahim, 14:48)”On the day when the earth is changed into another earth, and the heavens (also)” (Abraham, 14:48), ”And the sky split asunder, and so, on that day it will be most frail” (Al-Haqqah, 69:16), and “The sky will cleft open thereby” (Al-Muzzammil, 73:18). We can conclude from these verses that new heavens would be created from these “fractures.”

The way that doomsday will actually take place is in the knowledge and control of Our Creator who executes these acts and maintains the order of the universe. Approaches and conclusions made with current physical and cosmic sciences will enable a better understanding of the verses related to doomsday.

The Sun rising in the West and the apocalypse

Can a comet or a planet change the direction of the earth’s rotation by colliding with it? Can the earth change direction and start to rotate from East to West instead of West to East? A catastrophic event like this may cause colossal destruction and end the lives of many organisms. As a matter of fact, a comet impact in recent years was detected to slow down the rotational speed of planet Jupiter.

Venus is a mysterious planet on many levels. For example it rotates in the opposite direction compared to other planets. Sun rises in the West on Jupiter. Dense rock and dust layers of Venusian atmosphere is theorized to be formed as a result of a collision, and because of this collision, it is thought to have started spinning in the opposite direction. A day in Venus is longer than a year. In other words Venus revolves around the Sun faster than it rotates around itself.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi explains the sun rising in the West rather metaphorically as follows:

“While God knows best, the Qur’an, which is in effect the intellect of the earth, will disappear from its head at the end of time and, as a result, the earth will go mad. With Divine leave, it will collide with another planet and its rotation will be reversed. Through Divine Will, its journey from west to east will be reversed from east to west, and the sun will start to rise in the west. Truly, if the gravity of the Qur’an, which is the firm rope of God that binds the earth to the sun and the ground to the Divine Supreme Throne, is broken, the tether holding the earth will come unfastened. The earth will consequently become dizzy and deranged: on account of the reversal of its usual motion, the sun will rise in the west. Through its collision with another planet, Doomsday will begin at the Divine command.” (The Rays, p. 365)

Whichever way the earth comes to an end, even if the universe is not destroyed by an external destructive event, an apocalypse is foretold as something that will eventually happen with some mind-blowing descriptions in the Qur’an. What science speaks of black holes and other astrophysical possibilities in the universe seems to confirm these descriptions:

When the sun is folded up, and when the stars fall, and when the mountains are set moving. (At-Takwir, 81:1-3)
When heaven is cleft open, and when the stars fall in disorder and are scattered, and when the seas burst forth. (At-Taqwir, 81:1-3)

How generous of us. How condescending, actually! It implies that I can bear up under the difference which is exemplified in the other: I won’t criticize you openly or make comments, but deep down, I know you to be “different” and myself to be virtuous and probably superior. I may catch myself, when speaking of someone I actually do not like, saying politely: “Well, she’s different.” With that comment, I am off the hook. I refrain from telling you I reject this person. But “different” here may support a polite tolerance, yet it harbors an inner rejection.

So can we count tolerance a virtue? Perhaps developing tolerance is a stepping stone to something deeper? It might be the beginning of wisdom and exemplify a necessary patience with what feels painful, uncomfortable, unfamiliar, possibly frightening, in fact “foreign” to us. “Unfamiliar,” literally means: Not of my family. I am ill at ease with this because I do not know it. It is not part of my family, my tribe, my beliefs, my language, my religion, my race. In the spirit of tolerance, I might begin to open myself to tasting, hearing, learning something about that which is not “ours.” It is a beginning, but it still holds fast to the comfort of what it knows and only tolerates what it cannot fully accept.

Still, we have all had the expansive experience of traveling outside our zones of comfort and making a new relationship. We have launched a friendship with someone who seems unlike us.

An obviously poor man has taken charge of the garden plot next to mine in our neighborhood community garden. Perhaps he is homeless? He rattles up to the garden on a dilapidated bicycle. His clothes are worn and he has a scruffy look. His nails are dirty and that might be because he has been working his plot. I sense a certain unease in myself as we scratch the soil in our plots. Part of me fears him. That might be because I feel guilty about the growing number of homeless who make camps under the overpasses in my neighborhood. I can let my mind race with objections: They might bring disease. They certainly clutter the surroundings with litter. What if, in their need, they take what they want from yards and sheds? And the police told us recently they found a cache of machetes, sticks and knives in the park behind us. Oh, I can build dungeons in the sky as fast as anyone.

But to be honest, deep down, I would dread being homeless myself and in this economy… my mind races. How much of this is all our responsibility? Other members of the community garden, I notice, walk well out of his way. Sometimes they whisper to one another making comments about their discomfort.

But this is, after all, a Community garden! What does that really mean. If you sign up and pay the nominal fee to tend a plot and use the garden tools, this man has a right to be here. So the gardeners put up a front of tolerance. “We shall see. We’ll give him a chance.”

Tolerance invites us to stand before the unfamiliar and allow-but it still has no relationship to the ability to be empathic. Empathy is a vulnerable frame of being. It is to feel with what is “other” or different. Tolerance does not yet stand in the shoes of the other, knowing exactly what it feels like to be that person, living into a sense of that person’s culture, situation, history, biology, with those talents, bearing those wounds or offering those gifts.

Empathy would be the greater quality to embrace and cultivate in ourselves if we want to conduct real dialogue. Empathy is a quality that comes with maturity, practice, humility, a vulnerable openness and, of course, prayer. There is nothing guarded, “tolerant” or superior about it.

“Hey!” Two of us greet the man one morning as we hoe our plants. What’s your name? What have you just planted there? I make a point of walking over there and taking responsibility for my own feelings, I try to make contact with the fellow devoid of my prejudices. I am not an extroverted, chatty person to begin with, so it takes a concerted effort on my part to walk over there, discuss our gardens, and share our experiences.

Dempsey is his name. He does indeed live at the homeless shelter downtown and bikes up hill here to work his plot. He has lost the place he once lived. There is a story hiding in him. Turns out he knows quite a bit about the soil and gardening. He introduces me to his beloved collards. I show him my chard and spinach. Eventually we share some of our produce and though I do not take a shine to his collards, no matter how I try, I feel somehow honored by his generosity.

He has a plan. Even a vision. If he can grow enough produce, he will bring it to the kitchens at his shelter. As a kid, he had gardens which he and his mom tended. When everything in a row turns ripe and ready at once, it is quite an armful and he would like to make a contribution to his shelter. He has more plans. There is some land at the back of the shelter that, if he can convince them, he would like to turn into gardens that the homeless can help cultivate. Right now it is just a dumping ground for old bottles and litter.

“Of course, we’d need to contain the kitchen waste for compost first to get some soil. Gardening is more about making good soil than about growing plants!”

Before long, I am hearing amazing things from Dempsey. What if I had avoided him in my fear, guilt, and prejudice?

I think about my feelings against his reality. When we were young and growing up, we all made choices: We chose this over that, we chose right over wrong. We chose right over left and light over dark. We learned not to talk to strangers or to walk in certain neighborhoods. All the world is split in halves and with our choices we made judgments to match. We learned to define ourselves in a certain way, convinced that we have chosen the better part and have left “the other,” the misguided, the sinful, the messy, and unenlightened behind. This is how we formed our identity. With this we were approved of by our families and accepted by our tribe. It was, perhaps, a necessary developmental process.

In time, we may become so comfortable in this identity that it takes wisdom and maturity to discover that the world isn’t so black and white as we would like to define it. Our “black and white mentality” is often acted out literally. Here in America, we have suffered and visited great suffering on people of color deeming white to be more worthy than black. Getting stuck at this stage of development has literally given advantage, education and wealth to whites and this on the backs of those we first imported as slaves to our country and then continued to enslave in our intolerance, injustice and rejection.

Everywhere in the world, we have seen these simplistic conflicts bloom and fester causing injustice, war, and dreadful human misery. Tolerance, then, might be the first step to healing an unjust society but then, it has to develop further, into a true virtue.

Empathy-that true virtue-allows us to viscerally feel with the other and learn a third way which stands over and above the simplicity of a merely “black and white” mentality. Perhaps fundamental rights and wrongs may well be necessary to growing up and learning to become someone.

But fundamentalism is essentially an unripe process in becoming whole, holy, and healthy. It is a spiritual and psychological immaturity. Becoming whole, empathic with “the other” and more than merely “tolerant” of the other requires that we make friends with the deepest part of our own inner selves first. The dark aspects of our own unconscious, which lie under our conscious choices and awareness, are alive and well and sometimes pop out in actions, prejudices, paranoia, and selfish behaviors that actually shock us, surprising ourselves! Where did THAT come from? The impromptu snub? That slip-of-the-tongue? Getting to know what you’d rather repress in yourself takes that washing, even symbolic washing, which takes off the accretions of only “looking good.” To reach into our depth we ask for the graces of God and the courage to know ourselves.

Dempsey proves to be a gifted gardener. Unlike many of us city-slickers who find the idea of gardening a nice, romantic concept, Dempsey knows how to lean into his work and stick with it. He puts a hand to our compost pile and gives me information on the chemistry of compost. He LOVES the compost. And I begin to be enamored with the beauty of this transforming pile of brush and leaves as they become mulch and then good, black earth. It takes time. It takes patience. The vegetable scraps and brush, the kitchen scraps that we reject and find, in fact, revolting as they mold and decompose, become, in time, something so rich and beautiful that I hold a palm full in my hand and run it through my fingers. Dempsey laughs at me. He knows that I have come around. I encourage him to share his knowledge at our garden meetings. Dempsey becomes a valuable member of the garden. And he becomes a friend.

Like the compost, I dig deep into my own unconscious and all that I have deemed objectionable, I take into my awareness. I get to know myself a little more. I get to appreciate what I otherwise throw out and bury out of sight-out of my consciousness-and I find it necessary as the very “ground of my being.” It is a spiritual, a holy exercise. Also the parts of society that I might only tolerate, I take into my awareness and with prayer and God’s grace, I watch the rejected become a valuable source and a piece of God’s holy plan and puzzle.

Richard Rohr, OFM put it this way:

With prayer we change sides from the inside-from a power position to the position of vulnerability and solidarity, which gradually changes everything. Because now we are allowing ourselves to change and grow!
Once we are freed from our paranoia, from the narcissism that thinks we are the center of the world, or from our belief that thinks our rights and dignity have to be defended before other people’s rights and dignity, only then can we finally live and act with any justice or truth. Once these blockages are taken away from us-and that is what prayer does-then we just have to be offered a few guiding statements on social justice or other thorny issues-and we tend to get it for ourselves. We start being drawn by love…

For it is common practice in the human condition to take everything we fear, hate, deny about ourselves and “throw it in the waste bin.” We have, unwittingly, put “the other” in that same place of rejection and waste.

On the other hand, we also project everything we admire onto “the hero” as well. The adolescent makes heroes of the athlete, the rock star, the film star, the super model and decorates her bedroom with their posters. Meanwhile, the adults lean on their gurus, their preachers, their wise men, their favorite politicians and hope to vote in their hero as president and savior-of-the-nation. Our heroes, just like our shadow figures about whom we are passionate, are really aspects of ourselves which we are invited to come to know. These are abilities, virtues, talents, beauties, braveries, and wisdoms that we have not yet met in our own deepest selves but have “found” by projecting them on our heroes. What national leader can be the savior that delivers us from debt, from our enemies, from hunger? Over and over and at every election, we project on “the man who would be king,” and within months, because he is merely human, the populace has become disenchanted if not duped!

Samuel, in Hebrew Scripture, warns of turning away from God in favor of a king (1 Samuel 8). Israel wanted a leader like the other nations. But Samuel issues a final warning (1 Samuel 12:14) “If God’s people will remain faithful to God’s Commandments” and keep God as their ruler.

When our loves and our hates are visceral and passionate, we must take these deep emotions as invitations to examine our SELVES first. By truly “knowing ourselves” deeply, we are able to develop empathy-knowing “the other.” Then we learn to accept the dark and light aspect of our deepest self. We learn to embrace everyone. Our tolerance becomes empathy, even love! Rumi’s teaching often showed that love and empathy is the very path to spiritual growth and insight. Broadly tolerant of every person and all faiths he says:

Whoever you may be, come
Even though you may be
An infidel, a pagan, or a fire-worshipper, come
Our brotherhood is not one of despair
Even though you have broken
Your vows of repentance a hundred times, come.

Life is certain to dish up for us, family members, neighbors, people, situations, religions, countries-myriad experiences that are really invitations to rattle us out of our cozy dualistic and judgmental lives. May we grow surely and bravely from being merely tolerant into fully human beings who are steeped in empathy. Every dualist split that rends us apart personally and tears us one from the other would be healed. The same God reigns over and above us all. The same God guides us. The same God loves us all. The same God is the very ground of our being. Tolerance is only a start on the path to love and empathy.

Gertrud Mueller Nelson is an author, artist and retired teacher. She has illustrated and written nine books. She lives in California.

The only rose of my fate, sweet musk-scented hair

My enshrouding sphere, You bestow abundantly,

Wings of the angel lay down for you on the way to the Lote-tree.¹

The Station of Two-Bows’ Length, the highest peak of all,

You are the breath of the original nature,² the cosmos’ lofty call.

You are the rain of mercy and compassion from the most Supreme,

You are the Master of existence, prior even to Adam.

O the Ocean of Light! Would your grace cascade from a fountain?

The myriads of hearts would each become for you a crystal pool.

Black Locks you must be called, O the Beloved,

I wonder if my cry can reach you, dull, enfeebled.

My troubles are far too many, and I myself possess no cures at all,

I spent summers in vain, and am left in poverty in the fall.

“Perhaps a hand will be extended,” I thought, “if I knock on your door,”

“Perhaps my Master could find a cure for this sinner.”

I am afraid to hear you say, “Who is he?”

Then, all abodes would become a dungeon for me.

You are a cure for troubles, let this heart burn,

O the Beloved of the Merciful; to ashes let it burn.

Moons split at your command,³

Nothing but a full moon is seen in your face.

Purest water pours down from your fingers quenching armies,⁴

The hardest hearts soften in rapture with your breath.

Your blessed saliva is a heavenly river and a salve for the wounded,

Every moment in your company is time spent in heaven.

Black Locks I say, for the color of the Hira cave

Is united in harmony with that of the Miraj night.

Hajar al-Asad⁵ is imbued in black,

Inspired by the black of your hair, O the Beloved with rosebud lips.

Black Locks I say, for the pitch black of the Ka‘ba,

Draining the color of your eyes, as if from Kawthar.

O Black Locks, come before laments are no longer of use,

O Black Locks, come before my life comes to a close.

O Black Locks, come before my love fades in my heart,

O Black Locks, come before the Angel descends to take this life away.

With sparkling light, bestow upon me the horizons of future,

May all the horror on the road change into glory.

Burying my face into your prints in the dust,

Burning in flames, crying your name “O Muhammad!”

I wish to reach the land beyond, thirsty and tired,

On my lips, may cries of “water” and “Lord” become entwined.

Perhaps my burning could be the lowest of mercy,

A kiss from an angel whispering “He” while touching.

O Black Locks, all my days roam in this way,

Each ordeal passes engulfed in longing for you.

Stop this pain, put an end to this longing,

Uproot and hurl away this torment of separation from my heart.

Hurl it away to the unknown or to extermination,

Burn this heart forever with your light of reunion.

________________________

1. sidrat al-muntaha: (the Lote-tree of the Boundary) a station which the Prophet was raised during his Ascension.

2. fitrat: the original state in which humans are created by God

3. One of the well known miracles of the Prophet was “splitting the moon.” Once, the most staunched idolaters of Mecca came and asked him to show them a miracle to prove his mission. The Prophet prayed and the moon split. One half of the moon appeared above a mountain while the other half appeared above another mountain. This miracle is confirmed by the following verse: The Hour has approached and the moon split (Qamar 54:1).

4. This verse refers to one of the Prophet’s miracles. The Prophet dipped his fingers into a pot of water and immediately after he took them out, from each water flowed like a fountain.

5. Hajar al-Asad is the black stone that is found in one of the corners of the Ka‘ba in Mecca. Pilgrims start circumambulation from the corner on which this stone is placed.

When the sky is cleft asunder; And when the planets are dispersed, and when the oceans are poured forth. (Infitar 82:1-3)

The events that are to occur on the Day of Judgment are clearly depicted in the Qur’an. The relevant verses emphasize that the Day of Judgment is not an ending that will only involve the Earth, but one which will also incorporate other planets on a universal scale.

Insofar as causes are concerned, what could be the force that will be able to disperse a robust system, rendering all forces including gravity obsolete and forcing planets and stars out of their orbits?

The following verses seem to imply that this force will also affect “lustrous” heavenly bodies:

When the sun is folded up, and when the stars fall losing their luster; and when the mountains are set moving. (Takwir 81:1-3)

For the word kuwwirat (folded up) in the verse “When the sun is folded up,” the famous scholar Fakhreddin Razi, in concordance with a narration from the third Caliph Umar, interprets this word to mean “to darken by expunging light.” Now, how could Divine Predestination operate on the physical world, in the folding and collection of light? In the past few years, scientists have been pondering the possibility of the gravitational power of black holes in accomplishing such a role. As we know, even light, alongside matter, cannot resist the irrepressible gravitation of the black hole.

The events depicted in the verses given above may be, with the will of the Creator, dependent on the gravitational power of black holes.

It is a fact that we’re sitting on a sphere of fire, as we speak, and the gases that constitute the atmosphere are held above the Earth by the force of gravity. With the impact of the strong force of gravity however, the air we breathe will be the first thing to vanish from the Earth’s atmosphere. Thus, with the disappearance of external pressure on such an occasion, internal pressure will gain ascendance in all creatures, who are composed predominantly of water (70%), causing them to shatter into pieces.

Along with other planets, the gravitational bonds of billions of stars (asteroids, meteors and comets) found on the two asteroid zones of the Solar System, all of which are sustained by Divine Power, will perhaps be torn apart with the force of black holes.

The geometrical gravity balances could perhaps also play a role in setting the Day of Judgment in motion. As can be observed in the General Theory of Relativity, the space-time levelness of the universe could, to quote the Qur’an, be folded and scrunched akin to a piece of paper, in which case, the stars, having been moved out of their places, will plummet from their positions.

Similar to how a cloth or net is elongated or pulled down under the impact of heavy objects, the universe (the net of space-time) will also stretch and yield, and in fact rip and crack, or more precisely be punctured, from the dense objects placed inside it, that is the black holes. The puncture, in this case, denotes the invalidation of physical laws.

It can be assumed that the black holes, placed at the center of the universe, will gradually expand, until the entire galaxy virtually becomes a black hole, and with the unification of every black hole, the whole universe will effectively be rendered a black hole itself.

When the camel goes through the eye of the needle…

Those who deny our revelations and scorn them, for them the gates of heaven will not be opened nor will they enter the Garden until the camel goes through the eye of the needle. Such is how we penalize the guilty! (A’raf 7:40)

A camel going through the eye of a needle calls to mind how the universal bodies will be passed through the singularity, the tiny openings of black holes. This comparison is reminiscent of how a giant sphere that comes within the swallowing vicinity of the black hole, may become stretched out to the point of becoming a virtual string, eventually becoming ingested by an object much smaller than itself.

A star, hundreds of thousands times bigger than the sun, could be reduced to the head of a needle once it begins to be warped by the black holes, phenomena in which space and time themselves are compelled to twist and turn.

The central area where the gravity force of the black hole is at its peak is described as “the event horizon.” The black holes could in fact be passages that allow us to enter other universes. In such a situation, we can hypothetically evaluate what will become of an astronaut who falls into a black hole.

We align our watches in correspondence with the astronaut’s, and bid him farewell towards the event horizon. As the astronaut approaches the event horizon where gravity gradually increases, we notice his watch is starting to operate more slowly. In the vicinity of the event horizon of a black hole the size of our sun, while our watches indicate that 1 second has passed, the astronaut’s watch will show that 3.3 seconds have passed, as time, where he is, flows much slower.

As our astronaut draws near to the event horizon, the 33 seconds indicated by his watch (10 times slower than before) will be equivalent again to our 1 second, and when he eventually and completely enters the event horizon, time will have frozen, halting the disparity between each second.

How would the space traveler perceive this hypothetical journey?

Not only will the space traveler become cognizant of the slower elapse of time, he may also witness an elongation of his body as he draws nearer to the event horizon. Since the force of gravity will take more of a toll on the extremities, that is the head and the feet, by the time the astronaut asks the question “What is happening?” he would already have begun to be extended like a string. The passing second for the astronaut progressively approaching the event horizon, will begin to become one month or one year later in the Universe. A pace away from the horizon the entire future of the Universe will fit into a single second of the astronaut, who, by now, is swiftly being pulled in to the point of singularity, finding himself on the other side. In this area, the Special Relativity Theory, essentially based on the thesis that the velocity of light is absolute velocity, i.e. the greatest velocity in the Universe, loses its validity, in that, as one approaches the singularity, the gravitational force affecting the astronaut or space ship will become so intense that the actual speed will surpass the velocity of light itself. Thus, the tangibility of a velocity greater than that of light will render all principles of causality obsolete, during which a regressive journey in time becomes practically possible. The interpretations of this issue are as such: A person plummeting into the well of singularity may live the whole history of the universe in the blink of an eye. They now have become a time traveler; the present, past, and future are all presented to their vision. As if passing through the eye of a needle, they may have passed through to another universe.

Imam Ghazzali, while interpreting the verses concerning the Day of Judgment, in his epistle Kashf al-Ulum al-Akhirah, puts the accent on Universal cessation:

“When God wills the commencement of the Judgment with the blowing of the Horn, you will see the mountains flying and moving about like clouds, seas amalgamating with one another, the Sun folded and being blacked out, the stars scattering around like beads disengaged from their strings, the sky rotating ferociously like a millstone, the ground trembling terrifyingly, stretching and expanding like leather. In that God will decree the dismissal of the orbits and no living thing will remain alive on earth or in the heavens. The spirited will surrender their spirits. The Earth and Heavens will be availed of their inhabitants.”

Said Nursi, alternatively, lays emphasis on the deterioration of the finely tuned connections, such as gravity, electromagnetic and nuclear forces, etc., attaching universal entities together, depicting the Day of Judgment in the following words:

“Consider the Qur’anic description of the minute and precise interrelationship of the universe’s constituent parts. Consider their sublime and delicate organization into a system. If any heavenly body were told to leave its axis, the universe would be thrown into the throes of death. Stars would collide, planets would be scattered, and the sound of exploding spheres would fill space. Mountains would begin to move, and Earth would be flattened. Eternal Power will bring about the next life in just this way, and the elements of Paradise and Hell will be separated from each other.”1

Regardless of how the Armageddon occurs, Nursi asserts that what has been repeatedly highlighted by the Qur’an will be realized:

“If the universe is not destroyed by an external destructive event, with the Eternal Will’s permission, it eventually will begin to die. Even scientists say this. According to the Qur’an, it will give a sharp cry, and then the following things will happen:

When the sun is folded up, and when the stars fall losing their luster; and when the mountains are set moving. (Takwir, 81:1-3)

When the sky is cleft asunder; and when the planets are dispersed, and when the oceans are poured forth. (Infitar 82:1-3)”2

Our aim here is to evaluate the incredible events miraculously foretold by the Qur’an from the cognitive perspective bestowed upon us by God through contemporary sciences and to gain broader points of view. Only God, however, can know the exact form of present and future events.

Notes

1. Nursi, Said. The Words, The Light, Inc., New Jersey: 2005, p. 546.

2. Ibid, p. 545.

In this issue we discuss not the theological arguments concerning the Day of Judgment, but some scientific speculations on how it might happen. Some say global warming followed by an ice age will bring life on Earth to an end and may trigger the Apocalypse. Expounding on some Qur’anic verses, Dr. Cakmak speculates on how Divine Predestination could operate on the physical world in the folding and collection of light. He suggests, “The events depicted in the verses, by the will of the Creator, may be dependent on the gravitational power of black holes.” Dr. Polatoz argues that apocalyptic events will take place within the sphere of physical laws which will destroy the world, but these laws will not apply after a certain stage following resurrection. These arguments are certainly personal deductions and only God knows what is to come. Dr. Kurtoglu reminds us about the perfect balance established in our universe with a fascinating article on phytoplankton and the critical role these microorganisms hold in the food chain. He makes us realize the horrible destruction we cause in our beautiful world. So, now the question is: Are we preparing our own end?

The Reverend Kip Gilts’ article on “Levels of Tolerance” provides inspirational guidelines for volunteers in interfaith dialogue on how to promote understanding of others who are not like “us.” We learn from his short essay that tolerance is not a compromise, but a love-filled path of sharing the same world.

The Fountain