Story · Ajahn Brahm
Professor Blair and the zero-sum universe
The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)
I was doing a presentation with with uh David Blair you know he's still the professor of physics at uwa still a good friend and I remember this little um interchange we had you know at an event there and when I said you know about where does the universe come from you know because there's a basic law of science I'm sure everybody knows this one that you cannot create mass energy you cannot destroy it energy Mass it just changes from one to the other but energy cannot be created nor destroyed I'm sure you've heard that so the question comes where did this energy called you know the universe come from where did the planets the dark energy everything where did it all come from because it cannot be created cannot be destroyed was a beginning of this universe a just a time when the laws of physics just didn't hold or is the laws of physics which is basically logic reason was it always there so in that uh little part of the discussion just you know just thinking from Silence I said well look I know from the physics which I remember there is a physical quantity called negative energy now to explain that to you that is like if you remember your high school physics science what they called potential energy that if something is in a gravitational field this clock to take this free from the Earth's gravitational field it takes up a lot of energy that's why they have to have these huge Rockets basically putting an explosion you know up the astronauts bump I think that was uh who said that one of the great astronauts he said that's like going off into outer space you know fortunately got lots of metal between you and the explosion but that's basically what it is a big bomb under your ass T to propel you up into space and please excuse me for using the language which you use so anyway that's what it's like that's the energy you need just to free this from a gravitational field so being in a gravitational field is a form of negative energy that's one and there's many others so just thinking outside the box you know because you know how to be silent so what would it be like Professor Blair if the total amount the sum total of negative energy negative mass energy in this universe equaled the amount of positive mass energy in this universe that's a a valid concept so if all the the planet solar systems everything and the energy Fields all came together they totally balance so mass energy vanishes you cannot create mass energy we don't need to because the sum total is zero so go back that's where it came from if you add everything together it's zero sum universe is a zero sum game and when I said that he looked at me and I still remember the expression on his face actually bro I never realized you are so up toate Omega equals 1 I don't know what omega mean but it was a ratio to negative and positive energy said wow where did you get that from Easy from silence and that's in the world the wisdom born of Silence
▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 44:22 (to 48:23)
A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)
Chatting with a physicist, Ajahn Brahm suggested the universe's positive and negative energy might balance to zero. The professor was stunned: where did you get that? From silence, came the reply. Doing the same old thing rarely solves old problems. Insight and innovation grow from a quiet mind.
In brief (our summary)
At a UWA event with physicist David Blair he asks where the universe's mass-energy came from if it cannot be created. From silence he suggests total negative energy equals total positive — a zero-sum universe. Blair looks stunned: Omega equals 1 — where did you get that? Easy: from silence.
Teaching point
Innovation and insight come from silence, not from more noise.
When this story may help
- stuck on a problem
- needing insight
- bridging science and meditation
Themes
Source & credit
Told by Ajahn Brahm in The Wisdom Borne of Silence | Ajahn Brahm | 1 Jan 2016 · 2016-01-01 · ▶ watch from 44:22 to 48:23 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'bro I never realized' = Brahm; 'up toate' = up to date.
The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version