Revelations from General Relativity

Xuefeng

September 1, 2005

The attraction between the Earth and the tested body has "gravitational mass". Exerting force to a body, the body will produce reaction force. It resists acceleration, so the body has "inertial mass".The gravitational mass and inertial mass of the same body tested in a variety of ways arrive at such a conclusion: gravitational mass = inertial mass.

Isaac Newton believed that the measurement result of equivalence of the mass is only coincidental, but Albert Einstein found that such equivalence exists in a glorious channel that replaced Newton's theory.

Galileo Galilei noted the phenomenon in his experiment that the acceleration of a body in a gravitational field is independent of its mass. In gravitational fields, bodies of different masses fall at identical speeds; the acceleration of two bodies toward each other in the same gravitational field are always equal. For example, if we were to remove all air resistance, then anything falling toward the earth would accelerate at a constant rate of nine point eight meters per second squared.

In order to explain the principle of the equivalence of gravitational mass and inertial mass, Einstein came up with his famous third hypothesis, General Relativity: If an inertial system is equal to a gravitational system which is evenly accelerated, then we can introduce a uniform gravitational field into it and assume that it (the inertial system) will remain static.

On the basis of this third hypothesis, Einstein deduced his fourth one which is also the same in all systems. Any observer inside an accelerated running elevator will perceive a spot of light that is shining through its window at a constant speed along a level line into the elevator that lands on its opposite wall differently than an observer who is outside the same elevator. Einstein’s fourth hypnosis confirms that observers inside the elevator ere by neglecting the mass of energy because it is very small, however slight changes of movements of energy can be observed near very strong gravitational fields; it has been shown that light which is close enough to the sun will be drawn toward it due to its huge mass.

Thus, Einstein reached a surprising conclusion:

The world in which we live is not Euclidean. That is, circles in Euclidean geometry are no longer round, parallel lines intersect or diverge, and the sums of the angles of triangles are not one hundred and eighty degrees. This strange conclusion is called "the geometry of the universe". One plus one cannot always equal two. What is the speed of a photon plus the speed of a moving train? Can there be such a speed in reality? Place one atomic clock atop a mountain and another one of similar performance at the foot of the same mountain and their measured times will gradually diverge. The one on the top of mountain will run slightly more slowly than the one at its foot. Why? Because gravitational fields alter time and space.

What are the revelations of general relativity to us?

1. Any conclusion about macro space and time from the perception of micro space and time might be inaccurate.

2. Any conclusion drawn from within a system can be inconsistent with one drawn from outside of it.

3. There are "natural laws” in the universe which apply everywhere and always.

4. There are differences between abstract theories and reality.

5. Space and time are not absolute.

What kind of worldview and outlook on life can we draw from these revelations?

1. We may have been living mistakenly; that which is in our consciousness is not truth, but distorted reality.

2. Absolutely correct doctrines, theories, and ideas from within any religious, social, or governmental system may ultimately be disproved.

3. There are irrefutable universal laws which apply to all space and time; these laws are collectively the Will of the Greatest Creator: Tao.

4. No theory is absolute and eternally true; we should never believe blindly in the classical theories, but should think from the perspective of holographic order.

5. Returning from old age to youth and advancing from youth to old age as well as living in different spaces is possible.

No one has yet discovered all the secrets of the universe. On the contrary, we are only beginning to explore its wonders, and what we do know only scratches the surface. We are still ignorant of the meanings of time and space, so any strong opposition to new ideas, innovative approaches, and new philosophical perspectives is reactionary to the universe and to LIFE and is a suppression of human nature. Only the concept of unifying all religions into a single uniform one is relatively correct thinking. Only the Way of the Greatest Creator is the universal "natural law” to bring salvation from human suffering at the macro level.