Omega Point
As it often is, the discussion last night among our group was engaging, for an hour and a half. Over a dozen adults enjoyed a wide-ranging exchange of ideas prompted by a thought experiment proposed many years ago by Edwin Schrodinger. The concept is known by the moniker, Schrodinger’s Cat. The set up is straight forward: a cat is placed in a closed box. Within the box is a bit of radioactive material, a detector, and some cyanide. The conundrum comes: the poison is released if and when the radio-active material by decay releases a pulse of energy, which detected will cause the release of the cyanide, and the cat dies. Since the box is closed, it is unknown whether the cat is dead or alive, until the lid/door of the box is opened. Not everyone has heard of this “thought” experiment, but now you know the detail of it. Many questions can be posed concerning this set-up; about language, determinism, predictability, and knowledge.
The discussion was first-rate.
The high point of the evening for me happened later when a few of us gathered at a local bar for a bit more discussion. A friend and I shared our impressions of the movie, A Star Is Born staring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. The story line is a contemporary tale of a celebrated male rock and roll performer who makes the acquaintance of a hard working female vocalist, who has serious vocal and song writing chops. He is willing to include her in his concert performances. Her songs become electrifying and she in fact comes to eclipse him in success. The tragic, the jarring aspect of the story, comes when overcome by long standing flaws of addiction, guilt and shame, –he commits suicide. She is left with the unspeakable grief of his loss.
My friend and I have families that have been touched by suicide. The final scenes of the movie carried individual, concrete meaning for us. We talked about about how we now understand those experiences. For me, looking back on the sweep of the story of the movie,–I concluded that the life of the male character, including the manner of his end was redeemed by the awesomeness of the music that he performed and by all of the lives that he touched with his message. A life cannot be divorced from an individuals work, — they belong together. Redemption can sometimes be recognized if one steps back and takes account of the big picture.
I believe another term for this perspective is “omega point.” This is the notion, the faith that ultimately everything will be reconciled. There is an ultimate harmony in the universe, and in humanity, since humans are extensions of the universe, —that will be borne out.
Wikipedia has a succinct description of the omega point concept.
The Omega Point is a spiritual belief and a scientific speculation that everything in the universe is fated to spiral towards a final point of divine unification. The term was coined by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955).
Speaking of “divine” harmony, I don’t think there is a better example than the Seven Bridges Road by the Eagles.
