Are We Looking at the Same Trees?

Hello and welcome to Science Meets Vedanta. A space where we explore the fundamental principles of Vedanta and unravel the profound intersection between scientific inquiry and ancient wisdom. I am Jayant Kapatkar, the author of the book Science Meets Vedanta. Drawing from the insights in this book, each week will explore a variety of topics designed to help you understand the essential teachings of Vedanta. Along the way, we will highlight valuable lessons that science can gain from Vedantic wisdom. So stay tuned. In today's episode, we will be discussing an intriguing topic. Are we looking at the same trees? The answer is not obvious as it seems. It is much more complicated than it looks. Please listen to get an interesting and new perspective about this topic. Imagine that each one of us is looking at the same scene. Maybe a group of trees. If we are looking at the same scene, I am sure most people will answer. Yes, we are looking at the same trees. The correct answer is a qualified yes. We may be looking at the same trees, but each one of us is looking at a different version of the trees. In other words, we are not looking at exactly the same trees, but at different versions of the same trees. How do we understand this? The problem is the way we look at the vast and intractable space. We are used to seeing space in terms of distance. This tree is 100 feet away. That house is one mile away. That plane is flying at 30,000 feet. There is nothing wrong with this, but this vision hides the complexities of the space out there. The interesting truth about space get hidden with this perspective. Another way to look at space is in terms of time. Measure distance by the amount of time light takes to reach us from different objects. Einstein taught us that space and time are the same things and he coined the term space time. This would mean we can measure distance in space both in kilometers and in seconds. Things become interesting and the inner complexity of the universe becomes evident when you look at the universe in terms of time. To get the ball rolling, let us look at some trees in terms of time taken by light to reach us from the trees. For instance, suppose you are standing at location A and your friend is standing at location B and you are looking at a group of trees located and rooted at different distances. We know that light travels 186,000 miles per second even though the trees are not far, a single beam of light will take some time to reach us. You are standing at location A and tree one is 100 feet away. Based on the speed of light, it will take approximately 0.1 microseconds for light to reach you from the point where the tree is located. Since light has taken some time to reach you, the version of the tree you will see is not the current version but a dated version of the tree. You will see the current version of the tree only if the distance between the tree and you is 0 and light will take 0 seconds to reach you. We can call this the now tree. It is the current version of the tree. The simple explanation is that if light must travel any distance, however small, you will never see the current or now version of the tree. It will always be the older dated version of the tree. Based on this for tree one which is 100 feet away, you will see the now minus 0.1 microseconds version of the tree. This is because light takes 0.1 microseconds to reach us. So what we see is not the now version but a now minus 0.1 microseconds version of the tree. Light from tree 2 at 500 feet will take 0.5 microseconds to reach us. So the version of the tree you see is the now minus 0.5 microseconds version of the tree. This logic will apply to all the objects in the universe both nearby and far. For all the objects in the universe light will take a finite time to reach us. Therefore you are always seeing a dated version of objects in the universe. You can never find a current version of objects in the universe. Don't you think this is an amazing conclusion? Now suppose your friend is standing at location B which is 500 feet behind you. For him tree one is 600 feet away. Since your friend is standing 600 feet away light will take 0.6 microseconds to reach him. This would mean that your friend will see the now minus 0.6 microseconds version of the same tree. The version of his tree is different from the one that you are seeing. You at 100 feet away see the now minus 0.1 microseconds version of the tree and your friend at 600 feet will see the now minus 0.6 microseconds version of the tree. Since light travels a longer time to reach your friend from the same tree he will see a different version of the same tree. This may sound strange but it is true that if we are standing at different distances from the tree we will see a different version of the same tree. This logic applies to all objects in the universe. You may argue that 10 raised to minus 6 seconds is a small number and a human being cannot discern the small time differences. This is true and that is why there is no confusion between the different versions of the same objects. We all think we are seeing the same version of the tree. The human mind has the limited capacity to distinguish between these minor changes. If the human mind cannot distinguish between these minor changes that does not mean that mother nature is also limited. Based on the Planck constant the smallest possible time slot in nature is 10 raised to minus 44 seconds. That is 0 point followed by 43 zeros. Wow that is a very small number. Nature is constructed based on these small time increments. If you compare 10 raised to minus 6 seconds with 10 raised to minus 44 seconds 10 raised to minus 6 seconds seems like eternity. This is the discerning capacity of nature. The point being made is that the tree you see at 100 feet is the now minus 0 point 1 microseconds version of the tree and your friends sees the now minus 0.6 microseconds version of the same tree at 600 feet. If each of you takes a photo of the tree you will not notice any difference. This is expected because the distances are not much. The human mind cannot distinguish these minor changes but nature provides different versions of the same tree. If these minor version changes for small distances are difficult to accept let us conduct a thought experiment where the object distances are large and the time taken for light to reach us is significant. Let us assume that human beings are living all over the universe. Even the far away planets are inhabited by us. Let us say that at this very moment 4 people are looking at the sun. Person 1 is stationed on earth. Person 2 is stationed on Mars. Person 3 is on a planet which is 1 million light years away. Person 4 is living on a planet which is 4 billion light years away. At this now moment all of them are looking at the sun. What will each person see? Person 1 will see the now minus 8 minutes version of the sun because the single ray of light takes 8 minutes to reach person 1 on earth. Person 2 is on Mars and light takes 13 minutes to reach Mars. This person will see the now minus 13 minutes version of the sun. It may not be noticeable but the sun from Mars will look 5 minutes younger compared to the sun that person 1 sees from earth. Person 3 whose 1 million light years away will see the now minus 1 million light years version of the sun. This is because it has taken light 1 million years to reach person 3. Person 4 whose 4 billion light years away will see the now minus 4 billion light years version of the sun. We know that the sun is about 4.5 billion years old. So right now person 4 will see the version of the sun which was 4 billion light years ago. This person sees the infant version of the sun which is totally different from the sun that person 1 sees from earth or Mars. All four people are looking at the sun right now but they are seeing different versions of the sun. Not only the sun but the same explanation also applies to every object in the universe. Whether you are a few millimeters away or light years away each one of us will see a different version of the same object. This is the main take away from this discussion. It's another intriguing mystery. Some more intriguing complexity of the world yet remains unsolved. You are standing 600 feet from tree one. We have seen that at this distance you will see the now minus 0.6 microseconds version of the tree. Now you start walking toward the tree. What happens? As you walk the tree gets closer to you. This means that the beam of light will take less time to reach you and therefore you will see a different version of the same tree. With every step you take you will see a different version of the tree. It is indeed amazing stuff but entirely true. When you are 100 feet from the tree you will see the now minus 0.1 microseconds version of the tree. What is happening? The tree looks affixed stationary. How is it possible that the tree is changing its version continuously? It would almost seem as though the current version is being physically uprooted and replaced by a newer version of the tree. How do we understand this reality? We can see that the universe out there looks different when space is viewed with the eyes of time and not distance. How do we understand that when you see a version of the tree your friend sees a different version of the same tree? That a person whose 4 billion light years away will see the infant version of the sun. While you on earth will see the now minus 8 minutes version of the sun. How are we to comprehend that when you walk, run or drive a car? The version of the tree and every object out there keeps changing its version on a continuous basis. This is intriguing because this perspective is never discussed. If you want a simple answer it is called projection. It means that each one of us projects our own universe out there. Our mind projects the universe and that is what we see. I am projecting a version of the tree along with other objects. You are also projecting your own version of the tree depending on the distance at which the tree is located from you. In this way each one of us is projecting their own version of the tree along with other objects. There is no other way which will explain why you see a different version of the tree as compared to others. Also, if you are moving at any speed, how well versions of objects keep changing? The entire phenomenon is possible only because each one of us is projecting the universe out there. Vedahanta teaches us that there is a fully functioning subtle universe made of wave forms which is operating in the cosmic mind and the subset of this subtle universe is operating within individual minds. Also each object in the universe has a gross form and a subtle form. The subtle form is made up of wave forms. Each object has its own unique waveform. These object waveforms make up the subtle universe. In the cosmic mind and in all individual minds there is also a time waveform. This waveform is the source of time. This time waveform superimposes on the object waveform to form a combined time object waveform. This time object waveform is powerful and it maintains the full historical timeline record of the object right from its birth to the now moment. All the versions of the objects are available or stored in the combined time object waveform. For example, if tree 1 is 70 years old, the combined time tree one waveform will have the complete record of all the versions of the tree from its birth to the current moment. This applies to every object in the universe. When you are seeing tree 1, the now minus 0.1 microseconds version of the time tree one wave form will be available in your mind. Your mind will then project this tree at 100 feet. When your friend sees tree 1, the now minus 0.6 microseconds version of the time tree 1 wave form will be available in his mind. Your friend's mind will project this tree at 600 feet. Thus projection varies from one individual mind to another. The next time you look at space, please look at it through the lens of time. You will get a different perspective of the world out there. If you do this regularly, you will understand the actual construction of the universe. You will realize that objects are placed at different distances because of the time that light takes to reach us. If you think deeply about this, you will be convinced that your mind is projecting the different version of the objects out there. We hope today's episode has sparked your curiosity and offered valuable insights. If you'd like to dive deeper, visit our blog at Vedanta and science.com or find my book Science Meets Vedanta on Amazon. Be sure to subscribe so you won't miss upcoming episodes. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your family and friends. Thanks for joining us. See you again soon.