Brian Cox, in his Science Channel series, Wonders of the Universe, and, I assume his book by the same name, that to date I have not read, started this whole train of thought that is practically plaguing me – occupying much of my waking brain space, when I’m not concerning myself with whether the United States of America can survive the Republicans of this decade or with how to make a buck to augment my savings as I appear to continue being alive. Brian started it with what I recall his statement being that nothing in the universe dies. Everything that was there in the beginning (when? 13.5 billions years ago?) is still there (where?). You, me, whatever you’re looking at as you read this, are made up of atoms, and any and all atoms are made up of differing numbers of the same particles, primarily protons and electrons with some neutrons thrown in to complicate discussions. We’re all made of the same basic protons and electrons – how boring and plain Jane vanilla, no? You and a rock are not so different from each other. Oh, the structure is different for you and the rock as well as the different numbers of different atoms that compose the two of you, but it’s ultimately boring old protons and neutrons probably with a lot of neutrons thrown in. So again you, me, the rock and even the virus that gave you a head cold last winter are made up of the same particles.

Let me digress for a moment and talk about the good old hydrogen atom – one proton and one electron, Atomic Number 1 – how boring can that be. Oh, and then there’s the space questions, but that’s sort of off the subject. Humor me, though. Let’s get that out of the way. Here’s my favorite discussion of this. One I think I made up is if the proton in a hydrogen atom were the size of a soccer ball, an area the size of a soccer field would be required to allow its one electron room to revolve around it. And then there’s the helium atom – should be simple – but two protons and two electrons, Atomic Number 2, but oh my golly, two neutrons. And that’s only the beginning of the complexity. You’re made up of a lot of carbon atoms, but that’s not too bad, Atomic Number 6: six protons, six electrons, AND six neutrons. Let’s say, for discussion purposes, the rock has traces of gold in it. Wow! Gold, Atomic Number 79, has 79 protons and 79 electrons, but it also has 118 neutrons for reasons, I don’t understand, so let’s forget about it. If I had a point, it was that the carbon in you and the gold in the rock are both made from atoms made up of protons, electrons and neutrons – the same atomic (structure not boom) particles that are the building blocks of the universe – to trivialize a deep, deep fact. One thought Brian has thrown in that haunts me about here is that sometime in the past the atoms that comprise you may have made up a rock, and, who knows, you may be on your way to becoming a rock in the not too distant future. Back to Brian’s statement that nothing in the Universe dies, so does that lead to the concept of life (we’re implying “conscious” life) after death?

How has Teihard worked his way into the thoughts bouncing off the walls inside my brain? He did his dirty work in a book entitled, The Phenomenon of Man, a book I’ve been carrying around in tree extract (paper) form since college days, and that I’ve tried to read probably at least 3 other times. If you’re any good in French here’s a link to it in French that I think is still good. After the prior attempts I’ve made to read and understand it the point of the book I’d tell persons would be that mankind will one day reach an “Omega Point” in the Noosphere at which time we will all share some kind of super-consciousness. In my later readings I suspected he was unconsciously predicting the Internet: we would all be knowing and pondering the same things at the same time, knowing that we were doing so.

This time I read Teilhard in Kindle form. That allowed me to highlight any obtuse term (and there are lots of them) he used and have a dictionary definition brought up immediately. Also, I could highlight passages or make notes without soiling the pages of my dogeared paper copy.

What got me back to Teilhard and what got me this time as I read was following the stages of the story of the Universe and more particularly the stages of the story of the Earth. One of the first things that jumped out at me from Teilhard’s pages this time was that life simultaneously and as a microscopic and innumerable occurrence appeared ONCE AND ONCE ONLY. This newly appeared life was formed from the same basic particles that compose us and the rocks.. What’s troubling is when Teilhard says, and I can’t pinpoint exactly where and how he says it, life appeared only once made up of the same particles that make up everything in the Universe, yet nothing appears in the Universe that was not always germinally present, so life was somehow always present and potential in the Universe. Teilhard follows the development of life in his book to where it leads to the development of consciousness (in man). And, as he said about the origin of life, Teilhard also says about the appearance of consciousness that it was always present from the beginning of the Universe. Along with Brian’s statement that nothing in the Universe dies, Teilhard is saying nothing is new. Anything that did not seem to be there before did not appear from nothing; it was always (more than) potentially there.

So, where do these two gurus of the Cosmos, Brian and Teilhard, leave me? Nothing that composes me will die – not the particles that make up my body, ah but how about the consciousness that I exhibit and know I have? The stuff that makes up my body was always in the Universe and the consciousness that illumines my thoughts and enables me to put this into words is not new; it was a part of the Universe from the moment of the Big Bang, if not before. Am I immortal? Is some part of me immortal other than the atomic particles that compose my body and enable my thoughts? I want a scientific-philosophical answer, not a religious answer.