On Hellenic Cosmotheasis: Theology and Physics, concerning origins of Cosmos
The author of the following texts, Pan. Marinis has published in the recent years a fine work on Chaldean Oracles with some pretty excellent commentaries. These unveil some fundamental theological concepts that have been hard to understand all throughout history. Today though, the scientific findings in cosmology and quantum physics present an accordance with Orphic cosmogony and its rich descriptions of Cosmogenesis, thus enabling a more accurate understanding of this ancient work.
With the new findings of CERN experiment, the above treatise is up-to-date more than ever. The scientific findings in cosmology and quantum physics present an accordance with Orphic cosmogony and its rich descriptions of Cosmogenesis, thus enabling a more accurate understanding of the Hellenic Religion Cosmogony, where religion and science are in perfect harmony with one another.
" The Cosmos is all that we see around us, the land and the seas, the stars and the galaxies, the universes. The Cosmos is everlasting, æonian, uncreated and unbegotten, the one that has been and will always be, without a beginning or end, self-existent, self-contained and self-supporting, master and provider of itself. The Cosmos does and will always exist. But how do we see it? How do we perceive it? We perceive our surroundings according to the ideas we have about them, depending on our education. This perception of ours could be right but it could also be completely wrong. Every theory about the world, every religion uses its own premises and tenets in order to explain the Cosmos, namely, sees it in from its own viewpoint, i.e. has its own World-view. Every theory about the world explains in its own way what the Cosmos is, where it comes from and where it is heading, what is man, what is his origin and what is his destination, how one ought to lead one's life, and how society ought to be organized. This is the World-view of each theory about the world and, vice versa, each system that has such a complete view of things is called a religion."
CHAPTER ONE - The Hellenic Religion
The Cosmos is all that we see around us, the land and the seas, the stars and the galaxies, the universes. The Cosmos is everlasting, æonian, uncreated and unbegotten, the one that has been and will always be, without a beginning or end, self-existent, self-contained and self-supporting, master and provider of itself. The Cosmos does and will always exist. But how do we see it? How do we perceive it? We perceive our surroundings according to the ideas we have about them, depending on our education. This perception of ours could be right but it could also be completely wrong. Every theory about the world, every religion uses its own premises and tenets in order to explain the Cosmos, namely, sees it in from its own viewpoint, i.e. has its own World-view. Every theory about the world explains in its own way what the Cosmos is, where it comes from and where it is heading, what is man, what is his origin and what is his destination, how one ought to lead one's life, and how society ought to be organized. This is the World-view of each theory about the world and, vice versa, each system that has such a complete view of things is called a religion.
This is the definition of religion. A religion is every World-view that gives answers to these basic questions: What is the Cosmos, what is man and how ought one to lead one's life.
From all the spiritual systems that have tried to answer these questions the Hellenic Religion, the Hellenic World-view, stands out for being the only one that provides complete and fully scientific answers, which modern science just now rediscovers. For this reason the Hellenic World-view has been characterized as wholy scientific. Regarding the question, where did those great people, the creators of the Classical civilization, get their higher and complete answers from, the reply is simple. They were people extremely intelligent who did their best to systematize the knowledge which comes from the science of an advanced and spiritual civilization, namely, the antediluvian civilization of the Golden Age of Humanity and carry the torch of civilization higher still.
1. The concept of the Cosmos
What is the Cosmos then?
For the Hellenic World-view the Cosmos is the only thing that is, there is nothing else, nothing beyond the physical system of the Cosmos, nothing outside the frame of Nature. The Cosmos, for all those that adhere to the traditional religions of the Golden Age, constitutes the Absolute being, a system, infinite in space-time, within which matter, life and consciousness develops.
What is there then within the natural framework of the Cosmos? Within this framework there is only matter (with its wider sense: everything that can be researched by the science of Physics). It has been said that the philosophy of the classics and especially that of the Stoics is materialistic monism (newer term: Physicalism). This is absolutely correct, monism means that there is one and only type of substance within the Cosmos and not two different types of substances, which is called dualism. Dualistic are the monotheistic religions because they believe that there are two completely different kinds of substance and two completely different realms of existence: The extramundane God and the material universe created by him "ex nihilo". So, in this monotheistic World-view there is an immaterial intelligence which produces the material Cosmos, which turns bad and from it the ethical dualism in these kind of religions is created, namely the forces of good and evil. It is the Hellenic World-view then that is monism since it adheres that there is only one substance, this of the physical system of the Cosmos.
At this point we will hold and explain that by matter we do not merely mean the matter of the chemical elements, like the Physics of the 19th century, but in its wider concept, matter and energy, chemical elements, electromagnetism, radiation alpha, beta or gamma and in generally including all that we call fine states of matter. In a few words we can define it simply and say that material states are the ones that can be investigated by the science of Physics. Only those states does the Hellenic World-view consider to be in existence, nothing else. So, between the various elements of the Cosmos, namely inorganic matter, living organisms and the Higher Worlds of the Gods, there is consubstantiality.
The Cosmos then within which exists the entire natural framework of matter, for those that adhere to the Hellenic World-view, has no beginning or end. There has never been a time when there was no Cosmos and neither will there be a time that will see the end of the Cosmos. The Cosmos is maintained by its own forces, it does not need any outside help to exist or to expand or to function harmoniously and that is why it is called self-born, self- supporting and self- propelled, in order to emphasize its absolute self-sufficiency and to keep away any doubts and thoughts about the existence of an intelligence outside it, which brings to perfection or maintains it.
2. Cosmogony
«Cosmos, the same for all, no god nor man has made, but it ever was and is and will be: fire everliving, kindled in measures and in measures going out».
Heraclitus (Fr. 36) says that the world order is the same for all gods, men and for all things. This world order is a work of nature: self-made or self-grown; thus becomes explicit that the Cosmos itself is invested with the attributes of divinity:`it ever was and is and will be'. The same is echoed in a famous fragment of Euripides: «the ageless Cosmos of undying nature» (Fr. 910). It is a denial of any fundamental duality between a generated world order and the eternal source from which it arises or the ruling intelligence by which it is organised. Insofar as the Cosmos is made, it is self-made; insofar as it is organized, it is self- organized; insofar as it is generated, it is identical with its own eternal source, everliving fire. Then Heraclitus declares the cyclic life of a universe, the alternate cosmogony and cosmic conflagation (ecpyrosis).
How is matter contained within the Cosmos?
According to the Hellenic World-view, that, you must notice, is in harmony with the latest scientific views, the Cosmos, vast and mighty, contains an indefinite number of concentrations of matter particles called universes with their own initial configurations and at different stages of development. They illuminate the profound darkness of the cosmic space, some appearing as bolts of light, like stars, others shine like mighty galaxies, and some are invisible. If one could stand thirty billion light-years away, our universe would appear as a round galaxy. This very picture of a whole universe, spherical-elliptical and with a denser centre, like a round-eliptical galaxy, is called by the Classic writers, the macroscopic Orphic Egg. The various universes are all self-contained units and do not influence other universes. The Cosmos contains also a four-dimensional space-time vacuum which, similar to our own universe, is a rich environment, dense with virtual particles, probing to become real and an active space topography in the small space cells of 10^-33 cm orsuperspace. The physical laws which govern our universe are also dominant in the Cosmos a logical conclusion to the work of Nature.
How then is each universe been born as part of a Cosmos, the home of an indefinite number of universes? How does this process take place, which the Greeks call Cosmogony? Please note that the Cosmogony is called cosmogony because in the Classics the terms are used in the opposite way from how modern science employs them: the whole of what is, i.e. the Cosmos, is called Universe (τὸ πᾶν, Σύμπαν) while each of the individual clusters of matter is called Kosmos (Κόσμος). Naturally matter is not born out of nothing, nothing can be produced out of null dictates logic and the self evident thought of the Classics: «Ex nihilo nihil» has said Lucretius. The particles of matter that will make up the future universe are themselves, naturally, made out of matter which is more fine and which is produced by the two cosmogonical = (meaning giving birth to the cosmos) elements.
But let us see first what lies within the Cosmos, what forces are in play: Firstly, the system of the Cosmos consists of, as expected, Space. It plays a major role in creation and has existed in the Cosmos long before even the first universe was born. Space is infinite in size, which means that the dimensions of the Cosmos are also infinite.Another element of the natural frame of the Cosmos is Time, which is one of its basic constituents.Time, for the Hellenic World-view is not only the one that has been and will always be, i.e. without beginning or end, but has also real existence. Time is not an expression or a function of other parameters. It is a primary and necessary factor of the Cosmos. That is why the antediluvian sacred texts called Orphic Poems (Fragmenta Orphicorum, ed. by Otto Kern, Heineman, Z:yrich) are occupied with the definition of time and insist saying that Time gives birth to matter (Orphic Egg) and, therefore, exists before it. The first triad of the Orphic cosmogony consists of the two cosmogonical elements and Time. This for the science of cosmology entails a lot. It means that the Time pre-exists the creation of each universe and that the two cosmogonical elements react in Time.
The third necessary and everlasting element of the Cosmos is the natural Law. Here it has to be underlined that the Classics teach that the natural Law has and will always exist as it is now. It has never been different nor will it ever change. The authority of the Law, for the Hellenic World-view, is absolute and that is why the most ancient missal texts, the Orphic Hymns (english translation: Thomas Taylor, The Hymns of Orpheus, various reprints), characterize him, inter alia, as «Nature's firm basis», «the righteus seal of all», «Preserving laws eternally the same». Empedocles writes (B 135) «the universal law extends throughout the air's broad realm and the enormous light». Hence, the framework of the Cosmos, consists of infinite Space, Time and the natural Law, and besides them the two creative cosmogonical substances. Here it should be made clear the meaning of the word substance: substance is something which is self-existent, it exists out of its own power and has no need for outside interference in order to be or act. The Stoic Zeno gives another valid definition: «Substance is the prime matter of all existing things». So, the stage of cosmogony is set: within the infinite Space, at a given Time and in conformity to the natural Law, act the two creative cosmogonical substances in order to bring into being a new universe.
Which is the first of them? It is the vacuum of Space: The vacuum of space according to the 19th century Physics is considered to be a void, lacking all particles of matter and free of all thermal and other radiation. Today, there is no doubt that vacuum, even at absolute zero and void of all particles of matter, is far from empty or featureless. It has been established experimentally that when all matter is evacuated from the vacuum of space and all thermal electromagnetic radiation dissipates to nil when the temperature is cooled to 0K, a residue fluctuating electromagnetic field remains in the vaccuum. This electromagnetic field, called zero-point radiation, is not the blackbody background radiation found everywhere in the universe as the remnant radiation of the primordial fireball during the creation act.
Quantum mechanics introduced moreover another dimension. The vacuum of space, which appears simple and flat to macroscopic observations, is a very complicated and active system in the microscopic world of quantum mechanics. We are speaking here of areas of space of unimaginably minute dimensions in the range of 10^-32 cm, called the Plank length (superspace). Here, the geometry of the vacuum undergoes dynamic changes. Space in this minute world expands, vibrates, attains maximum dimensions, followed by contraction and collapse. We speak of quantum fluctuations in the geometry and topology of space. This property of being curved, hilly and distorted is continually passed from one portion of space to another, similar to waves. Empty space is not empty; it is the place of most violent physics. As a result of these fluctuations, matter can appear spontaneously. In fact, the vacuum is filled with an enormous number of virtual (to be) particles such as photons and other bosons, pairs of electrons-positrons, muons-antimuons, and others. The virtual particles can be defined as would-be particles that appears spontaneously as vacuum fluctuations. For example, an electron and positron appears as a pair; however, they are annihilated or rather vanish into the vacuum almost as soon as they appear.
This phenomenon can be explained with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, which is expressed in the energy-time equation. This implies that energy conservation can be violated over a very short time, perhaps as little as 10^-23 sec before it must be repaid. The total amount of energy remains constant at the 0 level before and after the short appearance of virtual particles, and the energy conservation law is not violated. If, however, a source of concentrated outside energy is fed into the tiny space of 10^-11 cm or smaller, equal to at least twice the rest mass energy of an electron of 0.00102 GeV, a pair of virtual electron-positron particles will become a genuine and detectable electron-positron pair. This phenomenon is observed routinely in high-energy particle accelerator experiments. What takes place is an instantaneous, direct transformation of electromagnetic energy into matter, following the equivalence formula of Einstein E=mc^2. The mass to the particles was given by the outside energy field.
The pontential density of virtual particles in the vacuum of space is enormous. It is estimated at 1094 g/cm^3. This density represents a potential capability of producing 5.4 ×10120 of electron-positron pairs per 1 cm^3 of space. the entire universe, however contains only 3.05×1080 electrons or 1041 less than potentially 1 cm^3 that space could produce. We can calculate that an energy level of 1012 GeV available in a space of 1 cm^3 could transform at least 1.002×1018 virtual particle pairs into true electron-positron pairs. As we can see, particles of matter in the universe represent, percentagewise, a negligibly small part of the enormously large vacuum potential as a source for particle creation. The vacuum of space is always ready to be transformed into particles of matter in the presence of powerful energy fields. Therefore, it seems logical that this phenomena are certainly an essential ingredient in the creation process of a universe in the cosmic vacuum of space.
Plato, immortalizing the knowledge of the Golden Age, describes this substance in Timæus (50-52) as «invisible and shapeless, receiving all things, partaking in some bewildering way of the intelligible and hard to capture... indestructible». Its nature and function are «to be the Receptacle and so to speak nurse of all becoming» (49); hence«mother and receptacle» (51a) go quite naturally together. There is also a distinct trace of the Pythagoreans, with their association of the Unlimited with the female, and the Unit with the male principle. In the Philebus we have seen it put plainly and succinctly (23): «for anything in this world to exist, there must first be, as its constituents an Unlimited element and the principle of Limit». Plato, after the foregoing, refers to the Receptacle as `space' and says that it provides a `seat' for everything that becomes. It is in constant irregular motion, swaying, and shaken «like grain in a winnowing basket» and «no part of it is in equipoise, but it is everywhere swung and shaken unevenly» by the powers of qualities that pervade it (52). How the commentators have understood the notion of Receptacle? Writes W. K. C. Guthrie (A History of Greek Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, 1978, vol. 5, p. 268):
«It suggests the concept of space, not empty space, but ever full of a primitive kind of bodies, moving in every sense of the word kinesis changing, generated and perishing, toppling over each other in their lack of homogeneity and balance and communicating the motion to the Receptacle itself. That the Receptacle itself should be agitated, and communicate its agitation back to its contents, is the strongest argument for supposing that Plato meant what he said when he called it not only space but a matrix, `stuff without property' compared to Anaximander's Apeiron (=Boundless)». Indeed, the above picture is so accurate as can be without the modern knowledge of quantum mechanics. «They put the case well who say that Plato, by the discovery of the element underlying all created qualities, which is now called `Matter' and `Nature', has relieved philosophers of many great perplexities», said Plutarch (Plutarch's Moralia: Obsolescence of Oracles, 414).
Because this substance produces the basic particles it is called the genetic substance or the substance that splits into particles. That is why it is called the
Because this substance produces the basic particles it is called the genetic substance or the substance that splits into particles. That is why it is called the
Because this substance produces the basic particles it is called the genetic substance or the substance that splits into particles. That is why it is called the
Particulate Substance (Meristi Ousia - Μεριστὴ Οὐσία). The Classics think of it as female and, also, use many other names: they call it `matter' or `substance without structure', meaning it doesn't have any particular characteristics rather it allows each particle to develop its own set of characteristics. According to Stoics who call it qualityless matter or passive substance it is the substance and matter of all things. Pythagoras names it Unlimited (Apeiron) andIndefinite Dyad (=indeterminate pair. That reminds us strongly the momentous appearance in the superspace of the pairs of virtual basic particles that move irregularly-indeterminately before they vanish again); Plato calls it `Substance which is transient and divisible in bodies' (Meristi Ousia - Μεριστὴ Οὐσία) Receptacle, Unlimited and Other (=that can be differentiated); The Orphic Poems call it Orphic earth, Chaos and Chasm.
Which is the second of them? The second substance is the primordial electromagnetic radiation: This concept of an omnipresent primordial, electromagnetic, radiation field flowing through the interuniverse cosmic space at velocities greater than the speed of light entered the contemporary cosmological thought with the research work of A. Karel Velan (The Multi-universe Cosmos, Plenum Press, N. Y., 1992). This powerful, basic energy field of the cosmos in the form of super-high-frequency radiation, at energy levels of 108-1011 GeV, is the fundamental tool of cosmogony and together with the vacuum of cosmic space, carry jointly all the seeds of matter of the four forces of nature responsible for particle interactions. All are unified, waiting to unfold their individual identities at different levels of energy, temperature, and optimum chemical and physical conditions.
The cosmic, primordial electromagnetic radiation field can interact occasionally with the inherently rich environment of the vacuum of space and turn, in combination with violent fluctuations of superspace, virtual particles into matter. A pure transfer of energy into matter. Direct detection of this all-powerful cosmic, primordial radiation has not been possible as it flows only in the perfect vacuum of the `interuniverse' space of the Cosmos. but it can reasonably be assumed that remnants of this radiation are contained in the present universe as g rays that have been discovered, at enormous energies of up to 1011 GeV, as powerfull bursts which are isotropic over the skies and, therefore, indicate that they are of cosmological origin. The bursts may indicate scattering by large masses of matter in the early universe, preventing the escape of this powerful radiation.
Its main characteristic is that flows through the interuniverse space [Classics call this space Its main characteristic is that flows through the interuniverse space [Classics call this space Its main characteristic is that flows through the interuniverse space [Classics call this space intermundia] at velocities greater than the speed of light and with an turbulent, spinning and spiral movement. That is why it is called by Orpheus «unceasingly flowing paternal ground» (πατρικὸς βυθὸς ἀεὶ ρέων) and, more characteristically, «torrent unruly and furious» (ὄμβρος ἀθέσφατος). Orpheus also calls it`water'. Classics have given it many names according to which of its properties they were trying to describe: they think of it as male and call it the Continuous substance (Synehis Ousia - Συνεχὴς Οὐσία), because it does not split, in contrast to the particulate substance. The Stoics name it: `the active principle' and say that it extends throughout the Cosmos and that is the shaper of matter. It is also called the `creative fire' (technicon pyr), to emphasize that it is the basic constituent of the creation of each Universe, acting throught the production of colossal amounts of heat. It is also called `warm breath' (pneuma)< or Aether (Aither) in order to note its great ability for penetration.
The Continuous substance is also called Logos, in order to underline that within it lies the sperm of a purposeful and logical creation and that the produced Cosmos will continue to evolve through orthogenesis, namely the creation of well arranged, inherently logical and beautiful forms. Aristotle calls it , in order to underline that within it lies the sperm of a purposeful and logical creation and that the produced Cosmos will continue to evolve through orthogenesis, namely the creation of well arranged, inherently logical and beautiful forms. Aristotle calls it , in order to underline that within it lies the sperm of a purposeful and logical creation and that the produced Cosmos will continue to evolve through orthogenesis, namely the creation of well arranged, inherently logical and beautiful forms. Aristotle calls it `species' (Eidos) and Plato 'Substance which is indivisible and remains always the same', Same, in contrast to Other, namely the Particulate substance, which is why, like Pythagoras, he also calls it Un (En) or Limit to contrast it with the Particulate substance which he calls Indefinite Dyad or Unlimited.
Let us summarise: For the Classics what exists is matter qualified, that is, matter exhibiting the features of the active and passive elements. How is a Universe created then? On rare occasions, cosmically speaking, the two vital elements instrumental in the particle creation process interact in a unique and optimum manner: the primordial, intense radiation field and the vacuum of the ineruniverse cosmic space, which simultaneously experiences large fluctuations in its topology and virtual particle activity. This marks the birth of a Universe.
The traditional cosmogony has been described eloquently by the Stoics, Plato, Epicures, Pherekides, Pythagoras, the Emperor Julian etc. but its most perspicuous and ancient account lies in the truly holly and pre-cataclysmic text of the Hellenic World-view, the Sacred Oration (Hieros Logos) of Orpheus which is part of the Orphic Poems, which describes cosmogony with celebrated and momentous phrases. It describes the certain yet random incident of Cosmogony with the stunning phrase «it occured once» (Fr. 55). It describes the self mobility of the Continuous substance, in order to reject any notion about the existence of another substance or intelligence that might be responsible for setting it into motion, through the absolute statement «the unceasingly flowing paternal ground propelled by its own momentum» (Fr. 55), which simultaneously states the continuous movement of the substance as well as its presence throughout interuniverse space.
Let us see some sayings of the Fr. 54 (Damascius Princ. 123): «Originaly there was water, Orpheus says, and mud, from which the earth solidified: he posits these two as first principles, water and earth... The great Unaging Time... the father of Aither and Chaos... Indeed, Time has offspring, three in number: moist Aither, unbounded Chaos, and as third, misty Darkness (Erebos)... Time fashioned an egg this tradition too making it fashioned by Time, and born `among' these because it is from these that the third Intelligible triad is produced. What is this triad, then? The egg; the dyad of the two natures inside it (male and female), and the plurality of the various seeds between; and thirdly Phanes with golden wings ...»
Misty Darkness (Erebos) is the interuniverse space [intermundia]. Orphic Egg in the microcosm is the basic particle of matter (which consists of the two cosmogonic substasnces: `the dyad of the two natures inside it') and besides it in the macrocosm,generally, is the universe, but in the technical description of cosmogony the Orphic Egg stands for thefireball (see below the description of the creation of a universe). Time fashioned an egg is tantamount to saying that `in the course of time' the materials assumed the form of an egg. As Proclus writes: «the egg is born from Aether and Chaos». Phanes, `the one who makes (or is) Manifest', «when he came forth through the Aether and misty Chasm he irradiated the air with unimaginable light from his dazzling body». Phanes is the newly expanded universe that is luminous, in contrast the fireball is dark because of the great gravitational thrust photons cannot escape.
Let us see in detail the act of cosmogony:
The vacuum of space in a given area of the cosmos violently fluctuates. The tiny 10^-32 cells of space undergo unusually violent dynamic changes in their geometry. Space vibrates, expands, and explodes. At the same time there is an unusual activity and massive appearance of virtual particles, ready to be transformed into particles of matter. Due to the high density (1094 g/cm^3) of the virtual particles in the vacuum of space, the potential for creation in the presence of a powerful energy source is enormous. The unusual activity of virtual particles may have been triggered by the intense vacuum fluctuations of the topography and geometry of space. The intensive fluctuations of the superspace created a sort of tidal wave, disrupting the virtual particles. When conditions reached critical levels, the omnipresent, primordial cosmic radiation flowing through the interuniverse space at velocities greater than the speed of light was suddenly slowed down and compressed by the unusual fluctuations in the geometry of space. Its energy level intensified to creative levels of 1012, 1013 GeV and what followed was a massive transformation and release of the virtual particles into the real world. Pairs of quarks- antiquarks and electrons-positrons were created in an instantaneous gigantic direct transformation of electromagnetic energy into matter. The powerful primordial radiation energy gave the virtual particles their mass. A new universe was created.
Less than a second after the creation of the primordial cloud of particles of matter and radiation, intense gravitational forces appear simultaneously with the appearance of matter and collapse the cloud into a fireball that is subjected to continuous and rapid implosion. The kinetic energy of the infalling particles at velocities close to the speed of light and the powerful collisions between particles and scattering of photons all turn into heat, energy and pressure, counteracting the gravitational forces. Radiation and the particles of matter are in full thermal equilibrium - particles are equally as hot as photons. The photons cannot escape. They move with the speed of light between collisions with electrons and quarks, are scattered and contribute to the largest extend to the ever-increasing temperature in the fireball. Implosion continues at a rapid pace. At the center, due to more intensive gravitation, a denser core of particles and radiation is being formed. This is the formation of the Velan Fireball which is called by the Hellenic World-view the primary Orphic Egg.
Gravitational energy, instrumental in imploding the newly created fireball, is counter- acted by thermal forces of matter and radiation. The implosion continues at a rapid pace. At a certain point and for a very short period of time, may be 10^-10 sec, the gravitational forces are in equilibrium with the thermal forces. Shortly after the equilibrium phase the fireball reached the quark-electron density (1.3×1015 g/cm^3) and the explosion was nearing. At that moment the radius of the fireball is approximately 1.17×1014 cm. For comparison, the radius of the Sun, which is a small star, is 7×1010cm. The highest level of energy achieved just before the explosion of the fireball is 1018 GeV, with an average temperature is 3.95×1026 K, which, however, on the core is considerably higher, reaching 1028-1030 K.
By the time the entire fireball reached the quark-electron density, the core was compressed far beyond this density level. All of the electrons, quarks, and other particles in the core merged to form a sort of single gigantic nucleus. In this form, particles of matter show a powerful resistance to further compression. By that time the thermal energy of particles and radiation reached a level higher than the total gravitational energy and exerted considerable pressure against the gravitational forces. While the internal pressure in the center of the sun's core is 1010 kg/cm^2, the pressure in the interior of the fireball was about 1031 kg/cm^2. The core, after the `maximum squeeze,' bounced back like a rubber ball that was compressed. The bounce set off enormous shock waves, which, together with the overpowering internal forces created mainly by the energy of the electromagnetic radiation, resulted in a titanic cosmic explosion.
For as long as the thermal forces last the matter of the hot sphere will expand, organise and become a Universe. When the thermal forces die out the expansion rate is gradually decreasing and the universe will eventually come to a halt. The contraction cycle which will start will be a reverse in time of the previous expansion period and it would be approach the state of a fireball, very similar in content and structure to the primordial fireball. Soon after, a big bang explosion will set up the universe on a new cycle of expansion and glorious creativity. Hence when a Universe has been created it never disappears again but follows a circular life span. As was indicated by Aristotle and presented in detail by Theophrastus (D.L. IX.8):
«The Cosmos is generated from fire and is ignited again according to certain periods through all eternity». The phase of expansion the Greeks call . The phase of expansion the Greeks call . The phase of expansion the Greeks call Diacosmesis (adornment) while the contraction is called Ekpyrosis(conflagation). All these terms and many others were deliberated thoroughly and defined in detail by the Stoics, whose studies in cosmology will never be surpassed.
How long does each Universe life cycle last?
Scientists judge that for our universe the expansion phase lasts 35,6 billion years and that the same goes for the contraction phase. This entire process the wise men of the Orient call Scientists judge that for our universe the expansion phase lasts 35,6 billion years and that the same goes for the contraction phase. This entire process the wise men of the Orient call Scientists judge that for our universe the expansion phase lasts 35,6 billion years and that the same goes for the contraction phase. This entire process the wise men of the Orient call the Universe's Breath' while the Brahmans of India call it `the night and day of Brahma'. The Lord Brahma is the highest divine entity that supervises and aids the creation of a Universe, corresponding to Uranus of the Greeks and Chinese or Khnum of the Egyptians. Finishing our exposition let us point out again that the Hellenic World-view and also every philosophy or religion that belongs to the traditional group, rejects any outside intervention on the Cosmos and flatly denies even the mere hint that there might be an extra-cosmical intelligence that creates a Universe. This fact establishes the essentially polytheistic nature not just of the Hellenic religion but also of all the traditional religions.
3. The Evolution
What happens when the Universe starts to expand?
Then it becomes adorned, as the Classics say, namely several natural laws spring into action shaping matter. The cardinal one is the Law of Evolution and according to it Nature and the Cosmos have a purpose. The purpose of Nature is the continuous production of more complex and higher forms and then at some point there appears, through evolution, consciousness, which develops further to higher consciousness. Therefore one can say that the purpose of nature is the development of higher consciousness.
The action then of the Law of Evolution is synthetic, hence as soon as the expansion of the Universe begins it the adornment of matter also commences. The basic particles join together and organize in nuclei, initially of small molecular weight elements and later into that of the entire range of chemical elements: An early generation of stars must form to convert the primordial light elements of hydrogen and helium into such heavier elements as carbon and oxygen. The first generation of stars must explode in supernova fashion to provide the `dust' of heavy elements for the second generation of stars such as our own sun and planetary system. It takes a minimum of a few billion years of evolution to achieve this state of development.
The chemical elements then create larger groups of matter, entwine in crystals, unite to form macromolecular chemical compounds and when the conditions ripe there appear the large macromolecular organic compounds and living matter. Living matter constitute a necessary evolutionary stage, there exist everywhere in the universe and there appears wherever the natural conditions are favourable. There is already sufficient evidence that the clouds of interstellar dust are indeed mostly comprised of frozen bacteria. Life advances, more and more complicated and perfect life forms are produced. Gradually consciousness appears. When those beings that manage to perfect their consciousness achieve to develop higher consciousness they rise into the Higher Worlds, which are nothing but the physical plane of existence for the supreme beings which we call Gods. There they continue for ever their evolution and their accumulation of higher and more perfect knowledge.
The creation of all these forms of the Cosmos is also supported, besides the Law of Evolution, on another main law, which is called the Law of Form. This law, which is supervised by the Goddess Aphrodite (Venus), regulates all things so as every emerging form, from the shape of a chemical element's atom to the human figure, will be well arranged, rational and handsome. This fact, that Nature produces only forms of matter, living or not, which are completely racional and in perfect harmony with each other forming smoothly running ecosystems, which is one of the main characteristics of the Cosmos, today's science calls This law, which is supervised by the Goddess Aphrodite (Venus), regulates all things so as every emerging form, from the shape of a chemical element's atom to the human figure, will be well arranged, rational and handsome. This fact, that Nature produces only forms of matter, living or not, which are completely racional and in perfect harmony with each other forming smoothly running ecosystems, which is one of the main characteristics of the Cosmos, today's science calls This law, which is supervised by the Goddess Aphrodite (Venus), regulates all things so as every emerging form, from the shape of a chemical element's atom to the human figure, will be well arranged, rational and handsome. This fact, that Nature produces only forms of matter, living or not, which are completely racional and in perfect harmony with each other forming smoothly running ecosystems, which is one of the main characteristics of the Cosmos, today's science calls orthogenesis and orthoevolution. The Stoics call it Logos and Orpheus' Sacred Oration Metis. Therefore within the possibilities of the natural laws there develop evolutionary the various forms that matter is feasible to get. This is what, for example, the science of Chemistry analyses, searching for the possible chemical compounds that there can be.
This entire range of possible forms that, despite whether they appear or not, exist in principle as possibilities of the natural laws is what the Hellenic World-view calls the World of Forms. These are the renowned . These are the renowned Platonic Ideas: the blueprints of possibilities within which it is possible to be achieved a change of Form, whether this concerns the production of a chemical compound or the creation of a large and complicated living being. This infinitely regulating function of the natural law which has foreseen for all that it is possible to happen providing for the well balanced operation of the Cosmos, does not give latitude for disorganising incidents that would unsettle the cosmic order. The absolutely perfect function of the cosmic order is supervised by the most exalted divine personalities such as Themis, Dike and the Eumenides.
The study of this side of the natural law and orthogenesis gives answers to many practical questions such as the recent worries about the laboratory developments in the possibilities of intervention on the genetic material, i. e. the chromosomes, which are known as cloning. The Hellenic World-view is not worried by any scientific progress neither is possible for any scientific progress to shake the order of the Cosmos and the reason is quite simple: If the produced hybrid lies within orthogenesis it will live, if it hadn't been produced in the lab it would have occurred one day anyway, either automatically or after a cataclysmic flux of mutations, i.e. the laboratory merely assisted the evolution. On the other hand, if that hybrid is a monstrous growth and lies outside the scope of orthogenesis it would only be able to survive within the laboratory environment and as soon as it is let free on its own in a natural environment its maladjusted nature will exterminate it.
In summary, we have examined the Hellenic Cosmogony, i.e. how a universe is born and evolves, realizing that the Greek thought has elaborated in a complete manner the first principles of the Cosmos. Certainly, all the traditional religions are based on these same principles but, due to historical reasons, only the Hellenic World-view managed to preserve in a detailed and complete manner all the teachings of the Golden Age. Therefore it is right and fair to declare unequivocally that it is the Greek Classic thought which has expressed fully and conclusively the first principles of the Cosmos, namely the first principles of religion and philosophy.
The Hellenic World-view considers cosmogony and generally the first principles very important because upon them builds up, in an inductive manner, the entire system of ethics, namely whatever concerns mainly the human being. By saying ethics we mean the answers to the questions: we mean the answers to the questions: how ought humans live, what should ones aim in life be and which is the most excellent system of government.
