Events & Objects in Space-Time

According to Einstein space and time are the same fabric. It would therefore make sense for the contents to be the same too. Space contains “objects”. Time contains “events”. So if space equals time then it’s likely that “objects” and “events” equal each other too.

I picture it is as a large paper bag of groceries with distinct symbols emblazoned on either side. Let’s say that one side has a triangle and the other side has a square. As the purchaser carries his/her bag filled with groceries home, s/he meets two friends along the way; a block or two away from each other. The meeting with each friend happens on a different side of the bag. So, one sees a bag with a square and the other sees a bag with a triangle. While greeting, each friend brushes close enough to the bag to briefly glimpse inside and get a sketchy sense of its contents. Later on the two friends happen to bump into each other and share that they met their mutual friend carrying a bag of groceries. Their conversation ends up flowing into a philosophical discussion about the contents of the bag with the square verses the one with the triangle. Of course, since it’s really the same bag, the contents are the same as well. The only reason they may think that the contents are different is because they weren’t sure that they indeed saw the same bag.

Similarly, since “events” and “objects” are the contents of this “bag” called by Einstein “space-time” they should be the same as well. It’s just that since we experience space-time, a single fabric, distinctly as space and time, so the contents are experienced as separately as well. In our experience of time, the contents present themselves to us as “events”. In our experience of space, they present themselves to us as “objects”. But space and time are like two sides of the same “bag” which merely looks different from different perspectives, potentially fooling observers into thinking that they in fact saw two different “bags”.

Free choice is a very interesting topic. There are a variety of approaches to try to explain its relationship to predestination. Some approaches weigh in the Talmudic teaching that the Jewish people are not under the influence of the zodiac, when discussing this topic. However, even this phrase has a variety of understandings.

One possibility is that a zodiac sign, a particular placement of objects in space, allow for humans to behave in more than one closely related way. For example, the Jews left Egypt, during the influence of mars, the bloody planet. Joshua turned the potential bloodshed of the Jews into the blood of circumcision during a mass circumcision rite upon entering the Holy Land. The “event” which matched mars required spilling blood. However, there was a choice as to which way it occurred. In this sense the zodiac, though operative, did not entirely influence how the Jewish people handled an event. They chose to do a Mitzvah, which allowed for an alternative outcome.

There is also another possibility which does not necessarily have to contradict the first one. Perhaps, it merely points to a yet higher level of free choice. There are some who take the teaching that the zodiac does not influence the Jewish people more literally. It seems like they are of the opinion that, in a state of true holiness, one can choose to do an act of pure goodness in a way that’s not at all anticipated by astrology.

This approach carries a very interesting implication. Since the deed was not anticipated by astrology, the person actually creates an “event” for which there was no correlation among the “objects” in space. To restore balance to the space-time fabric, space needs to adjust and compensate for this by somehow changing its “objects” and/or fabric to match. This way the “event” in time has been somehow matched by equivalent changes in space, on the other side of the equation.

Of course I don’t know what change will occur among objects in space. However, if such a deed is possible to do and an unanticipated “event” occurs then the simple logic of the situation calls for such changes. If so, a Mitzvah, good deed, performed on very high levels of holiness might be able to bring changes to the physical universe; possibly an earthly extension of the Lurianic “Tikkun Olam”, cosmic repair.

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