Friday, December 24, 2010

Chapter 37: Frailty Trembles

split the atom of fear

Human weakness seduces us to fear. We cannot control fear, so instead we react – by avoiding it, indulging in it, being humbled by it, attempting to defy it. We clench, addict, claim victim, stop believing, abandon ourselves and God.

split

We each perceive fear according to our unique weaknesses. We face the cruel loss of a loved one, suffer to conquer an insidious addiction, are imprisoned by intolerable pain or debilitating disease.

split

Human frailty is predetermined and necessary. Accepting frailty is a requirement for transcending. Christ teaches us in the serene image of suffering He imbued upon the Shroud as His body accepted human death and was released into the new life of the resurrection.

split

The faint and frail image that rests on top of the fibrils mirrors our tenuous nature. The marks of suffering, our fear personified. His calm expression, our salvation assured.

split

And then the unsolvable mystery. No one comprehending the true origin of particles binding the image. We reach out to clench hope and possess resurrection. Answers vanish.

split

the atom of fear
disintegrates
the faint image
dusts
our surfaces of surrender

we collapse by design
into the Divine
where human mirrors God
and frailty trembles

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Chapter 36: Thriving in Arsenic

All life as we know it up to this point requires 6 elements to make DNA and RNA. They are: Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Sulfur, and Phosphorous.

A newly discovered bacteria in Mono Lake has arsenic in its biomolecules in lieu of phosphorous. In fact, experiments show that it grows and thrives in arsenic.

Phosphorous is a central component of the energy carrying molecule in all cells, known as Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). This energy carrying molecule is responsible for the metabolic process.

This newly discovered life form uses some phosphorous, but it has arsenic in its DNA structure, meaning arsenic functions as part of its building blocks for new cells.

Arsenic would kill us (and probably all other life on earth as we know it). Thus, if this discovery proves to have scientific merit, it will be a pivotal discovery in terms of us broadening our definition of what constitutes a life form – here on Earth or elsewhere.

Is this arsenic-consuming life form just one tiny part of the Shadow Biosphere” (a parallel existence of other life forms that are radically different from everything we know of life thus far)?

More to the point where the Shroud is concerned:

Would the discovery of other forms of life in turn mean there are other forms of death?

Death as we know it is defined as the extinguished life force (life force meaning composed of the above 6 elements).

If this bacterium can use arsenic as one of its life-producing elements, then what might be different about how it dies?

The Shroud makes us contemplate death and resurrection. But what if Christ's life form, even though He was human, was in some small way different to ours...would the way he would perish also be different?

What other element/s might have built Christ's DNA and RNA?

And would traces of this/these elements have been left behind on the image on the Shroud?


Could it/they have impacted the carbon dating results?

And what of the relationship between Christ's death and the light of the resurrection...did the Holy Spirit wind the clock of metabolism to add the energy Christ would require to covert to a system of light?


Light is produced at an atomic level when an electron in the atom goes from an excited state of energy (a higher energy orbital) to a state of lower energy.

If the frequency of light that is emitted is a function of the excited particle transitioning to a lower energy quantum mechanical state, is there any relationship between quantum states of energy and the metabolic process of a life form?

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed.”

Can any form of energy be transformed into another form of energy?

Did Christ have superhuman metabolism that enabled Him to intentionally emit thousands or maybe millions of watts for a short time (that lasted maybe only seconds) and for the purpose of completing a superhuman task like resurrection?


The energy stored during photosynthesis as light can be triggered suddenly by a spark in a forest fire or made available more slowly for human metabolism when the molecules are ingested and catabolism is triggered by enzyme action.

Catabolism is the set of pathways that breakdown molecules into smaller units and release energy. As cells break down they create waste and release energy. The creation of this waste is usually an oxidation process involving a release of chemical free energy, some of which is lost as heat, but the rest of which is used to drive the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate.

Could this oxidation process in some way be responsible for the image left on the Shroud?

Could Christ willingly and suddenly trigger a spark that enabled Him to store His energy as light?




life to
death

life to
light

death to
life

death to
light

light to
light

He is the light of the world