The Absoluteness of God & Light.

In Kabbalah, the general description of Godly energy as “light” describes a revelation from and out of God’s essence.

The light is called Oir Ain Sof, an infinite light, and while it has a distinct beginning and must therefore have an end, since it is a connected extension of its source, although it is finite, God installed some of His infinite qualities within it.

When it arose before God to create the world, this infinite light shone and radiated everywhere. God withdrew this primordial (spiritual) light, and there was a space, and then he shined an element and strand of (spiritual) light from the past light to create our world.

This seed of life that created our universe comes in the form of Oir—light and energy—and is known as the “line of light” from God. This spiritual and, as a result, physical energy of electromagnetic light is the actual first creation made by God because the goal of creation is to fill the world with the light of God.

In several of his works, Maimonides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Maimon or Rambam, discusses the value of studying science and nature to develop love and fear of God. One of the primary texts in which he addresses this topic is his philosophical magnum opus, “Guide for the Perplexed” (Moreh Nevuchim in Hebrew).

In “Guide for the Perplexed,” Maimonides emphasizes that studying science and nature can lead one to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the greatness of God, who created this nature. By observing the intricate design and complexity of the natural world, individuals can gain insight into the wisdom and intelligence of the Creator.

Maimonides posits that studying science and nature allows individuals to develop a sense of awe and reverence for God. This awe and reverence, in turn, cultivate a more profound love and fear of God.

In the following few articles, I will share with you how light is unique in all of God’s creations in that it exclusively displays the most powerful qualities of God.

The Absoluteness of God (May He be Blessed).

Albert Einstein made the initial public presentation of his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. This theory is primarily concerned with the connections that can be made between time and space, as well as between matter and energy, by using the absolute standard of light.
Two fundamental postulates serve as the foundation for the Special Theory of Relativity. The previous research conducted by other physicists, such as Hendrik Lorentz and Henri Poincaré, served as a source of inspiration for Albert Einstein.

The first postulate states that the physical laws are unchanging no matter which frame of reference one examines them from (for frames of reference that are moving at constant speed). For instance, a physicist conducting experiments in a spaceship moving at a constant speed of 100,000 miles per hour would find that the laws of physics are the same as if the physicist were conducting the same experiments in a spaceship moving at a constant speed of 10 miles per hour. This is because the laws of physics are universal and do not change based on the speed of motion. There are not, in essence, any privileged reference frames. Simply put, “your point of view” is a more technical way of referring to what is known as a reference frame. There is no reason to believe that the laws of physics should change whether you are driving an automobile at eighty miles per hour or traveling through space at twenty thousand miles per hour.

The second postulate is that the speed of light, measured at 186,282 miles per second, remains constant regardless of who is measuring it. This second postulate is the key that will allow you to access all conclusions that are logical extensions of this theory. Einstein recognized that the speed of light was a universal, absolute standard.

Einstein hypothesized that the speed of light is absolute, which means that the speed of light does not change with respect to the relative speed of an outside observer.

For instance, if you were stationary and measured the speed of a car passing you at 60 miles per hour while standing still, the car’s speed relative to you (the stationary observer) would also be 60 miles per hour.

But what if you were riding in a car that was traveling alongside this other car, moving in the same direction as it was going, and going the same speed, which is sixty miles per hour, what would happen? In this particular scenario, what is the speed of the other car in comparison to yours? The correct calculation is 60 mph minus 60 mph, which equals 0 mph. The other vehicle’s speed can only be accurately determined in relation to the speed of your vehicle.

This answer would be confirmed because, as you look out of your window, you would notice that the other car is traveling at precisely the same speed as you are. In other words, you would see that they keep the same speed as you. Since you and the other vehicle are going in the same direction at the same speed—precisely 60 miles per hour—the other vehicle will not get ahead of you or fall behind you. Because you would be traveling in lockstep with this car, the relative speed of this car with respect to your car (the observer) is equal to zero.

If you were in the middle of deep space with no landmarks in sight, you would look at the other car and assume that you and it were both stationary, meaning that neither of you was moving. It is impossible to determine whether or not you are moving at all if there is no external object that can serve as a reference point to determine your speed, such as a street sign or a tree. As a result, we can see that the concept of speed is always measured in relation to something else.

Let’s look at another example to see how speed is relative when applied to everyday objects. Let’s say you can throw a ball at fifty miles per hour. If you were to stand in the back of a pickup truck that was moving at 60 miles per hour and throw the ball at a speed of 50 miles per hour in the same direction that the truck was moving, the ball would move at a speed that was equal to 60 miles per hour plus 50 miles per hour, which is 110 miles per hour, with respect to someone who was standing still on the ground. This is because before you even decided to throw the ball, it was already traveling at a speed of sixty miles per hour with respect to the ground that it was resting on. After that, your arm transferred sufficient energy to the ball to cause it to accelerate by an additional 50 miles per hour, bringing the total speed of the ball as the combination of the speed of the truck plus the additional speed that you imparted to the ball before it left your hand.

With everyday objects, speed is relative. The speed of another object is based on your relative speed with respect to that object. As in the two examples discussed above, speeds add and subtract. Basically, with everyday objects, the speed of one object completely depends on the speed of another. Ordinary objects we are accustomed to do not possess such a thing as absolute speed. A car moving at 60 mph with respect to the ground will appear to be traveling at different speeds with respect to other observers, depending on the particular motion of the observer.

Einstein completely upended this conception by focusing on light. Einstein began his exploration of light with the presumption that it did not behave this way. According to Einstein, the speed of light can never be measured differently than 186,282 miles per second, regardless of how fast the observer travels. Einstein began with the premise that the speed of light is unchanging and can be measured exactly the same way by any observer, no matter how fast or slow they move: 186,282 miles per second. There is no such thing as a change in the speed of light, and it is not affected in any way by the speed of the observer attempting to measure the speed of light.

This is very strange. This indicates that if you were in a spaceship traveling at 185,282 miles per second, which is 1,000 miles per second slower than the speed of light, you would not be able to accurately measure the speed of the light beam moving ahead of you as 1,000 miles per second (186,282 miles per second minus 185,282 miles per second). Even though your spaceship travels 185,282 miles per hour, the light beam will continue to move away from you at 186,282 miles per hour! No matter how quickly your ship was moving, it would never be able to catch up to the light beam because the light beam would always be moving away from the ship at the speed of light itself, no matter how fast the ship was traveling.

This is analogous to trying to catch up to a car traveling ahead of you at a speed of sixty miles per hour. To your utter consternation and astonishment, you would discover that the car moving at sixty miles per hour would continue to move away from you at sixty miles per hour even as you continued to accelerate to sixty miles per hour. Einstein proposed that light operates in a manner analogous to a supernatural vehicle standing before you.

A light beam would continue to move away from your spaceship at the speed of light even if you were able to muster up enough energy to get up to 99.99999999% the speed of light!

Even more peculiar is the idea that a person on the ground could measure the same beam of light moving precisely at the speed of light, which is 186,282 miles per second. How can two observers, each moving at their own speed, measure the same beam of light when they both move at different speeds?

The light beam is somehow independent of anything other than itself, including other light beams. There is no other object that the light beam can be compared to. There is no wiggle room when it comes to the speed of light.

Einstein began his work assuming that many experiments would prove this true, and he was right. As we will see in the following articles, making this one assumption about the absolute nature of the speed of light led to one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century, which was the realization that for the speed of light to be absolute, everything else, including the rate at which time flows, is relative! Time changes. Mass changes. Length changes. We think of time, mass, and length as absolutes, but they are relative quantities that change. Light is unchangeable, whereas the rest of the universe must be understood in relation to the unchangeability of light.

Light is the standard by which everything else is measured, a remarkable and distinctive quality.

When we consider this distinctive quality of light to God, we can appreciate in a physical sense one of the ways we describe God.

God is the only absolute. God exemplifies perfection in each and every way. God is dependent on nothing else. God does not evolve over time. There is just one unchanging God who does not alter. There is no difference in how one perceives God based on the frame of reference they use. The one and only origin of absolute truth is God. God is the only unchanging truth. God’s truth is not relative to anything or anyone else; everything and everyone else is relative to God’s absolute truth.

This starkly contrasts with the philosophy of relativism, which holds that everything and everyone else is relative to one another.

Everything in the universe is relative to the absolute standard that is set by God, just as each and every one of the universe’s physical properties, including space, time, matter, and energy, is relative to the absolute standard that is set by light (more on this later). God is the same yesterday, today, and forever; an individual cannot influence God’s character in any way.

We see the same kind of relationship between God and people as between light and the physical universe.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of God is His capacity for “absoluteness.” In many world religions, the concept of God is formed according to the individual’s wants and needs. Many people desire to worship God, but they will only do so if they believe that the God they worship is compatible with their worldview or has some significance to their lives.

According to a quote attributed to Voltaire, “God made man in His image, and man returned the favor.” The desire of man is to have a god that he can manipulate. The concept that there is no such thing as absolute truth is held by the vast majority of people in today’s society, which is evidence of this view. However, there is one standard that is unquestionably applicable to everyone and everything in the universe. The first parallel between the physics of light and the attributes of God can be seen here.

God being absolute is the idea that God is complete, perfect, and unchangeable in all aspects. This means that God is not limited by anything outside of God’s self and that God’s nature and attributes are not subject to change or fluctuation.

God is considered the ultimate reality, transcending human limitations and constraints. God’s absoluteness encompasses all aspects of existence, including time, space, knowledge, power, and love. God is the one and only all-powerful, all-knowing, and unchanging deity.

God is the ultimate truth, the source of all morality, and the basis for all existence. In this sense, God’s absoluteness is a foundation for understanding the nature of reality, ethics, and human purpose.

Light is absolute. God is absolute.