Journal Entries
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God & Science
Posted Nov 30, 2005
Good news. God is back!
It now seems as if scientists have discovered a higher place or universe where God might be. Fiction writers or for that matter theologians are finding difficulty in keeping up with science these days. With theories of parallel worlds all around us, the idea of God is no longer so improbable.
Of course some scientists would tell you that this is not so. Some would go so far as to exclude him from any grand plan. They would say that there’s no physical proof of God's existence and in saying it so persistently they’ll make him more likely. Theories into multiple higher dimensions and black holes with tunnels to other worlds, are more credible to them. Others have taken up psychology telling us that nothing is real any more; there not being an independent universe. If we were not here it wouldn’t apparently exist; it’s only there when we look.
Physics is fast coming the sphere of new prophets and science is again going back to to philosophy. It’s grown up just as a little boy who was not confident, wouldn’t want to be a sissy and listen to his mother. It had to prove itself as a sign of maturity by denying God in relative safety since God wouldn’t need to throw thunderbolts to prove himself.
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Is there really a God then?
Some, believe because they’re afraid. Others believe because they see the order and purpose of nature. A third group believes because science now makes Him possible. We are now faced with theories and facts that are more difficult to digest than the belief in a supernatural force. It wasn’t long ago when Einstein made his famous remark that God didn’t play dice and that it was not all a matter of chance.
The arguments between evolutionists and creationists have raged for a long time. Someone must have had the original seed from which we evolved. In what form our creation was made is surely not the main issue as to the prime mover.
Scientists have decided that photons and electrons can be both particles and waves, depending on the argument in hand. So why not God being a force everywhere and taking on the form that suits the occassion? If an electron can change form as it approaches two holes to go and interfere with itself then anything is possible. Why not admit that we don’t understand what really goes on and we set up models to explain things just as with God being a sort of model. In the old days what was not understood was a miracle and we still have a few left.
We seem to be living in a big balloon. It’s being blown up more and more as we advance with a possibility of it going bust releasing us from the three dimensional spacial straight-jacket. Maybe God’s on the other side.
Used to be that every thing had to be proved by experiment before being accepted as science. Now science is adapting to modern thought. We no longer need to move in tiny steps but in leaps and bounds.
We often ask how can there be a God with so much suffering and injustice in the world and churches responsible for so many wars, but we cannot blame God for human failings. As for the natural injustices we simply do not know, but theories abound just as they do in science.
We know that there are invisible forces all around us,and although we can not see them we feel their presence.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Nov 30, 2005
Investing in Stocks Pt2
Posted Nov 23, 2005
As an investor you should buy stocks for the long run but this doesn’t mean that you put them away in a shoe box and forget about them. You need to keep close to information about your stocks and be ready to react. You ought to treat your investment as a business in which you have to pay close attention, and adjust to the market.
As with any worthwhile business you need to keep books that track your performance on a weekly and monthly basis with milestones towards your year end objectives. A spread sheet showing prices per week compared to the index helps show the leaders and laggards. You also need a short list of key indicators on a dashboard, that drive the business forward. Review your successes/failures on a monthly basis with corrective action to close up deviations on the way to year end.
You may consider creating a virtual portfolio to start with choosing and following your companies to get practice. A number of financial sites provide this facility and give you all the advice necessary to get you started. When you’re ready to go live, you can choose an online broker. This will provide you with practically all the tools needed to buy and track your stocks. Like a supermarket it will also reduce your costs, benefitting from massive sales in getting lower trading prices.
Look at the High Street itself - it may help you identify a good stock. You may want to choose a company where either you or someone close to you have first hand knowledge. You then start by making gradual small purchases ramping up gently, giving you time to see how the particular investment is performing.
You can use the Price/Earnings Ratio PER to compare different stocks. If the price is high it could be that people are willing to pay more for quality or future high growth. You can compare the P/E ratio of a stock to its competitors. You can also use the inverse namely the earnings / price as the yield of the stock to give you an idea on how it compares with long term interest rates. With interest rates at say 5% this would be equivalent to a P/E of 20 but you might settle for a P/E of 17 as a middle value to allow for the extra risk in stocks.
There are also mutual funds that cover sectors or the whole index but these are blunt instruments. You cannot move quickly concerning individual shares, you lack flexibility. Mutual funds are good if you want to invest in other markets where you are unlikely to have sufficient knowledge such as foreign stocks or raw materials, gold etc.
If you want to spread your risk you may also consider trackers, which combine the lower risk of mutual funds but are traded as ordinary shares. They may cover a particular sector like pharma or financials etc. You don’t have a fund manager and consequently you do not pay an entry, exit or annual fee.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Nov 23, 2005
Meet in Paris
Posted Jan 27, 2005
Why not have a meeting in Paris as well? Not really that much further than Birmingham for some, and more inspiring.
Discuss this Journal entry [26]
Latest reply: Jan 27, 2005
Brain/soul/spirit
Posted Nov 6, 2004
When does the soul enter the body?
It must surely be at conception since it is the force that breathes life into the chemical/mechanical body.
This is the same force that leaves us at the other end when we die.
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Once gone we cannot repair the body and get it going.
Then there's the spirit which is higher than the soul. This must surely enter later when we become self aware.
I like the idea of the spirit which could be the only thing that can travel faster than light having no physical form at all whereas light is made of photons that act as real particles.
So it could be that the spirit enters when we gain self awareness and records our lives until it leaves when the soul switches life off. In this case the spirit has a specific memory of our lives and it carries this with it.
Its all a matter of conjecture but then we have a brain and we are allowed to speculate.
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Nov 6, 2004
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John Doe
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