A creative and surprising Universe

The basic physical interactions – strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational – are the substance of the essential algebra – matter/energy – through which the Universe organises itself. From the constant flux of matter/energy, from the constant interaction of every particle, element and molecule, spontaneously emerge patterns: nebulas and galaxies; stars and solar systems; planets, atmospheres, continents and seas; forests, plants and all beings.

From this whole interactive dynamic, all things are formed and designed. From fundamental properties of matter/energy, from the interaction and progression of things in time and space, comes the constantly mutating generation of all universal order and beauty.

Other corollaries of the creative power, of the constant flux of transformation, are periodicity, the cycles of construction and destruction of life and death, and chaotic irregularity. Destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin; without destruction there could be no new creation; everything would be eternally fixed and immovable, without life. The destructive power of the Universe is truly terrifying; explosions and collisions are routine. Galaxies collide, pass over one another, breaking stars and planetary systems; stars explode into supernovas, which become home to new life.

The changes are not arbitrary but, by the light of our limited human capacity for observation, often happen in unpredictable ways – in fact, quantum physics shows that fundamental particles can suffer random changes. Movements, like those of galactic groups, of galaxies and of galaxies and their stars, of nebulas, of clouds, of the
waves of the sea, of magnetic currents in the centre of the earth, really are unpredictable and surprising.

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