NMT (No-Me Teaching) new series 49:

This time, after excerpting the Ramana Maharshi disciple, Master Nome in the text below we continue to preface a return to the series: Fine-Tuned Universe series, we examine, not the Future or Past of the Universe, but back again to Fine-Tuning as such.

Some more  from the Ramana Maharshi disciple Master Nome:

Just as the Mind becomes the Object, the Instrument or means of Knowing, the Actor, the Action, & the results in a Dream, so is this also the case in the Waking state. The Real Self is different from the Mind & all those things that the Mind becomes (object, instrument of knowing, actor, action, results). The Self is without interior & exterior, such as the Mind & the World.  The Self is homogenous Consciousness.  Know the Self by ceasing the attribution of anything exterior or interior to the Self.  Remembrance & forgetfulness, including remembrance & forgetfulness of the Self, these processes are also, only of the Mind.  Both of these processes are products of Ignorance & do not touch the Self. Cease to regard the Self as a known or unknown object.  If the Supreme Self is regarded as an object of knowledge, such is a superimposition of Imagination or Ignorance.  True Knowledge prevails when such Ignorance, or superimposition, is negated. This is like the case with the rope & the illusion of the snake.

4 prerequisites (sadhana chatushtaya) for Self-Realization:

1. viveka – Discrimination between temporary (unreal) & permanent (Reality)
2. vairagya – Detachment, indifference to enjoyment of pleasures
4. mumukshuta  – Desire for Liberation
3. shatsampatti – Devout 6 Qualities
(i)    sama –  control of thoughts (ii)   dama –  control of senses                 (iii)  uparati – control of obligations & activities                                                  (iv)  titiksha –  control of passions, fortitude, endurance
(v)   samadhana –  control of mind for spiritual study & reflection
(iv)  sraddha –  control of trust & faith in Guru & the Teaching

Fine-Tuned Universe 29:

[In the unreal reflection called the “Universe”, a product of an unreal Mind, even there, Infinite Intelligence is evident and inspiring.]

One major possible theistic response to the Multi-Verse generator scenario, whether of the inflationary variety or some other type, is that the laws of the Multi-Verse generator must be just right – fine-tuned – in order to produce life-sustaining universes.   To give an analogy, even a mundane item like a bread machine, which only produces loaves of bread instead of universes, must have the right structure, programs, and the right ingredients (flour, water, yeast, and gluten) to produce decent loaves of bread.  If this is right, then invoking some sort of multiverse generator as an explanation of the fine-tuning re-instates the fine-tuning up one level, to the laws governing the Multi-Verse generator. So, at most, it could explain the fine-tuning of the constants and initial conditions. (Even the latter will be problematic, however, as we shall see in the next two sections.)

As a test case, consider the inflationary type Multi-Verse generator. In order for it to explain the fine-tuning of the constants, it must hypothesize one or more “mechanisms” or laws that will do the following five things: (i) cause the expansion of a small region of space into a very large region; (ii) generate the very large amount of mass-energy needed for that region to contain matter instead of merely empty space; (iii) convert the mass-energy of inflated space to the sort of mass-energy we find in our universe; and (iv) cause sufficient variations among the constants of physics to explain their Fine-Tuning.

Glossing over the details, in inflationary models, the first two conditions are met via two factors.  The first factor is the postulated Inflaton field that gives the vacuum (that is, empty space), a positive energy density.  The second factor is the peculiar nature of Einstein’s equation of general relativity, which dictates that space expand at an enormous rate in the presence of a large near-homogenous positive energy density.  Finally, because the inflaton field gives a constant positive energy density to empty space, as space expands the total vacuum energy within the space in question will increase enormously.  This in turn generates the needed energy for the formation of matter in the universe.  The vacuum acts as a reservoir of unlimited energy, which can supply as much as is required to inflate a given region to any required size at constant energy density.

So, to achieve (i) – (ii), we effectively have a sort of “conspiracy” between at least two different factors: the inflaton field that gives empty space a positive energy density, and Einstein’s equation.  Without either factor, there would neither be regions of space that inflate nor would those regions have the mass-energy necessary for a universe to exist.  If, for example, the universe obeyed Newton’s theory of gravity instead of Einstein’s, the vacuum energy of the inflaton field would at best simply create a gravitational attraction causing Space to contract, not to expand.

The conversion of the energy of the Inflaton field to the normal mass-energy of our universe (condition (iii) above) is achieved by Einstein’s equivalence of mass and energy, E = mc², along with the assumption that there is a coupling between the inflaton field and the matter fields.  Finally, the variation in the constants (and to some extent the laws) of nature is typically claimed to be achieved by combining inflationary cosmology with superstring-M theory, which purportedly allows for an enormous number (e.g., 10⁵⁰⁰) of possible combinations of values for the constants of physics. The important point here is that the laws underlying the inflationary scenario must be just right in order to cause these variations in the constants of physics from one universe to another. If the underlying laws are those given by superstring-M theory, arguably there is enough variation; this is not the case, however, for the typical grand unified theories that have been recently studied, which allow for only a very limited number of variations of the parameters of physics, about a dozen or so in the case of the simplest model. There is no reason to expect a generic field to have an enormous number of stable local minima of energy, which would be required if there is to be a large number of variations in the constants of Physics among Universes in Inflationary Cosmology.

The above themes & 1600 pages more are freely available as perused or downloaded PDF’s, the sole occupants of a Public Microsoft Skydrive “Public Folder” accessible through:  

www.jpstiga.com/

http://jstiga.wixsite.com/nonduality/

or with Caps-sensitive:

http://sdrv.ms.YPOgkX/

Duplicates (but with graphics) have been available on:

http://www.blogger.com     as  “Being-as-Consciousness, Non-Duality – new & final version” with link:

http://being-as-consciousness.blogspot.com/

[But from now on, they will be different & still usually daily.]