Lessons on Relativity

Today is Albert Einstein’s birthday - he would have been 127 years old. Or if he had caught a fast-moving train on a stationary track in a different space-time continuum, he probably would be at least a millennium. Or 27 years old. But you know, everything is relative.

Lesson 1: Theory of Special Relativity
Postulate a) The speed of light is the same for all observers, no matter what their relative speeds; and Postulate b) The laws of physics are the same in any inertial (that is, non-accelerated) frame of reference. This means that the laws of physics observed by a hypothetical observer traveling with a relativistic particle must be the same as those observed by an observer who is stationary in the laboratory

Lesson 2: Theory of General Relativity
Einstein developed this theory to explain apparent conflicts between the laws of relativity and the law of gravity. Thus, Newton's hypothesis that every object attracts every other object in direct proportion to its mass is replaced by the relativistic hypothesis that the continuum is curved in the neighborhood of massive objects. Einstein's law of gravity states simply that the world line of every object is a geodesic in the continuum. A geodesic is the shortest distance between two points, but in curved space it is not generally a straight line. In the same way, geodesics on the surface of the earth are great circles, which are not straight lines on any ordinary map.

In the theory of special relativity, Einstein had stated that a person in a closed car rolling on an absolutely smooth railroad track could not determine by any conceivable experiment whether he was at rest or in uniform motion. In general relativity he stated that if the car were speeded up or slowed down or driven around a curve, the occupant could not tell whether the forces so produced were due to gravitation or whether they were acceleration forces brought into play by pressure on the accelerator or on the brake or by turning the car sharply to the right or left.

But Einstein himself provided a better, more colorful definition: When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours -- that's relativity.

How do these 2 theories apply to the Moral Relativism – the idea that moral principles have no objective standards – that Pope B16 warned us against last year? You might say that Einstein was talking about a physical dimension and B16 refers to the spiritual. But if we are spiritual beings first and physical second, wouldn’t the laws of relativity apply to both?
What Einstein posited was that all things aren’t what they seem. Light can bend around a big object like the sun, or that space is curved, and its exact degree of curvature in the neighborhood of heavy bodies is known, but its curvature in empty space is not certain. What B16 is worried about was that absolute moral laws would not be deemed absolute. What are those absolute moral laws, anyways? I googled “moral absolutes” and came up with a lot of self-righteous sites justifying absolutism, but I couldn't find a definitive list.

And herein lies the problem: it seems each society / culture / religion has its own set of absolute moral laws, and they are not necessarily all on the same page. Case in point: the Danish cartoon – we in the west marveled at the degree of outrage from the Muslim world; we watched bemused, smugly superior, somehow confused, absolutely angry. We didn’t understand why it is that for a Muslim, it is an absolute truth that to make an image of the Prophet is blasphemous. So it could be a cartoon or a masterpiece from Da Vinci himself - it would still be blasphemous. And we wonder why we kill each other...

I am a Catholic with 18 years of Catholic education and - GASP! - I don’t know with absolute certainty what those moral absolutes are. I know the basics: respect for human life, human rights, freedom. But I get the feeling that, from the urgency of B16’s message, I am still missing a lot more of these absolute truths. Or maybe it is just because the geodesic connection between me and moral absolutism is not a straight line, but bent, just like how Einstein described it. Sometimes, the scenic route is so worth the extra miles.

I don’t know what I am babbling about as usual (but can babble about it anyway)… but HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Professor EINSTEIN!

And since spring is almost here, it just means one thing: Delia’s Humble Blogger emerged from its cave and did not see its shadow. SO - Winter begone, The Shep is back!


Kewords: Delia Gallagher