Geology & Religion
Cosmic moments
On 20 April at 1000 eastern, our Timely Topic webinar will discuss cyber with Dr. Cassandra Lewis, the Chancellor of the College of Information & Cyberspace. Zoom link forthcoming.
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned John Dvorak’s How the Mountains of North America Grew: a New Geologic History. Since I am reading it at the same time I am reading two other books, I am not finished with Dvorak but savouring each page as I absorb terms and concepts pretty different from national security questions.
It is, however, entrancing. Not only is he a good storyteller, as the blurb on the front cover says, but he explains shifts in a highly technical field easily, clearly, and succinctly. I rarely have enjoyed something outside of my own field since I read The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes in 1987 (which is still the best book I have ever read for the same reasons as Dvorak). I am having trouble putting it down.
I link it today to our world, especially this particular weekend when all three of the Abrahamic religions have major rites underway beyond the day-to-day rituals and preaching.
What is the link between the book on geologic evolution and these religions? It is the issue of time, what is beyond our control, and how we perceive our particular moment in the cosmos.
Dvorak’s description of the evolution in science’s hypotheses on the crust of the earth fascinates me because of the various geologists who recognised what they saw in the upper portion of the United States and southern Canada while also identifying some of the same rock types in Europe, for example. Piecing together evidence through some seemingly back door manners makes for good stories while also encouraging us to think more broadly about any problem we seek to resolve. Right now, our world needs considerably broader thinking as our problems are becoming more intracable.
The sheer number of years for the various geologic eras points to how short our knowledge is as people living on the globe, reminding us to consider each and every one of ourselves within the organisms inhabiting this planet for a fairly small portion of its existence.
The geologic tale also appraises of events triggered by processes underway for billions of years, very few (if any) of which we actually touch much less alter. We don’t alter volcanic eruptions, erosions to reveal long-concealed igneous rock, or the ever-spereading floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Yet Dvorak reminds us how quickly we are grasping more geologic understanding. The predominant explanation for plate techtonics met scientists’ hypotheses testing merely half a century. Sitting here in 1923 rather than 2023, the assumptions and proof were radically different. The reconsiderations resulted from advancing hypotheses, testing them with evidence gathered, and peer reviewing those results.
And then there is all we still do not know. The list of questions often result from why the earth’s changing nature led to various follow on effects. What do we ‘know’ about the interplay between planetary development and dinosaurs, for example, that we will cast aside over the next decade as we learn ever more as the result of changing techniques?
Some will read a book like this, then ask why someone believes it becauseso many individual data points occurred billions of years ago. That doubter would challenge the evidence as insufficient and the claims too grandiose to be credible.
It is here that discussing how the mountains of North America grew becomes closely associated with the religions and the associated with their endurance. Religion and geology both require a belief in something so much bigger than any of us. Both manifests cosmic—immense and distance in both time and space— trust in things before and after our lives.
Granted those beliefs are somewhat different as geology rarely refers to a deity while obviously Judaism, Christianity, and Islam most certainly do. But each necessitates a trust in the evidence provided to support the belief. Put otherwise, the hypotheses tested offer ample evidence to prove validity with religion and science accepting through their own faiths the basics of their own unfoldings.
Each of us turns out small in a much greater world, whether it’s a physical or demographic one. We can all make a difference in our world but we unable to grasp fully what is occurring now and ahead as is a passenger awaiting her particular train as a train with a different path races by us on route to somewhere else; we absorb what we can of the rapid transit but are not aware of everything about the train, its passengers, or its future.
I wish you a happy Passover week, a joyful Easter, an easy fast for Ramadan, or a safe and peaceful world no matter your beliefs. .It’s a priviledge indeed to share any of your journal with you. Thank you so much for taking time to read that Actions Cause Consequences.FIN