Scientifically Inspired
No Faith Required
A true list of Origins
and
Boundary Conditions
Emergence
Emergence and a symbol for The Big Bang
This is religion for atheists; So the first word is emergence. Emergence is a form of natural becoming. How something new comes into existence. Complex or otherwise. It has many interpretations. Some say more is different. I say everything is different. That the moment is unique. That the moment is emergent. And so is The Big Bang. And The Octagod brings these two things together. And that, in itself is yet another example of emergence.
DNA
DNA and a symbol for The Big Bang
DNA is a well known science symbol. In the context of The Octagod it stands for both the origin and unity of life. DNA is the first of three rings. The second ring is for The Brain. The third is for culture. This three ring circus generally represents feedback. Life's energy driven process of feedback can manifest itself in many ways; including reproduction, the formation of self (the ego) and a culture's self awareness. From DNA to the book, the three circles of The Octagod represent life in the Universe. They also represent feedback.
The Brain
 The Brain and a symbol for The Big Bang
The Brain has a circle all its own. Like DNA it's the central node for a complex set of feedback loops. And like DNA it's a source of memory. In this symbol the brain lies between genetics and culture. It's in the middle because we obviously live somewhere between our instincts and their cultural expressions. But less obviously the brain lies in between in many other ways as well; The brain lies between inside and outside, between billions of cells and a sense of self, between sensation and action, between past future and even between chemistry and gravity. The Brain, like The Octagod, operates on many size scales at once.
The Book
The Book and a symbol for The Big Bang
The Book symbolizes memes and culture. Which makes the Octagod a meme about memes. Memes and genes are instruction sets. Culture is an ecology of instruction sets. The Octagod is part of that ecology. It's a religious users manual for the Big Bang and all it implies. Like other religious thoughts it includes versions of birth and death. As a thought it points to the sky. As an amulet it's worn on the outside of the body reminding the wearer of the Universe in a variety of ways.
The Macrocosm
The Macrocosm and a symbol for The Big Bang
The Macrocosm is everything that's bigger than you. From society to the sky. From the moon to the earth to the sun. The Macrocosm is the galaxy, galactic clusters and voids, and the universe. It's everything that comes down to us. It's where we live.
The Microcosm
The Microcosm and a symbol for The Big Bang
The Microcosm is everything that's smaller than you; it's your body, your organs, your cells. It's molecules and atoms. And of course its quantum mechanics. If the Macrocosm is where we live. Then the Microcosm is what we are.
The Big Bang
The Big Bang and a symbol of The Big Bang
The moment of the Big Bang is a moment of ultimate simplicity. Everything that will ever be is at that moment; in the same place, and made of the same stuff. Then it became all of this. This first point of cosmic unity emerges from the quantum world. Then quickly inflates into the space and variation that preceded the web of galaxies that we have today. This web of galaxies represents contraction. The Big Bang represents expansion. In our universe there's a balance between expansion and contraction. We should honor it. It's good enough to produce galaxies. The Big bang also gave us the speed of light. The Big Bang comes with a verity of conditions. Who's to say what these may be in other universes?
And what The Big bang came from
"Before" the Big Bang and a symbol of The Big Bang
The universe could be here on purpose. But it's probably here by chance. There are probably many universes. Our universe seems uniquely right for life. To account for this by chance there would have to be a large number of lifeless universe's, to account for the one that worked. The idea that there are many dead universe's is consistent with the idea of downward causation. Where it takes a lot to make a little. The universe is a rare black swan.
Birth and Death and a symbol of The Big Bang
The Octagod symbol of the Big Bang comes in two parts. The first deals with lie in the universe. The second deals with the death of the universe.
The Big Bang
Again, the Big Bang and a symbol of The Big Bang
In the Octagod this second version of the Big Bang is contrasted to the end of time. In this context of death, the Big Bang represents minimum entropy. Minimum entropy is maximum simplicity. Everything in the universe is known. It's in the same place; made of the same stuff. It was. And then the universe expanded. Expanding was its greatest feet. Inflation was by far the fasted expansion. And what followed, our universe, seems to be expanding faster and faster as well. The universe is expanding while what's around us is contracting. We are all pulled to the center of the earth. There are many stories to be told about expansion and contraction. the Octagod, especially as it points downward is one of them.
Expansion
Expansion and a symbol of The Big Bang
The second half of the Octagod replaces the "macrocosm" and the "microcosm" with expansion and contraction. This battle between cosmic expansion and gravitational collapse is central to any story of the Big Bang. Because when it comes to creation; the story of life and the story of the Big Bang are not the same. This second side of the Octagod contrasts the familiar worlds of our own creation with the less familiar worlds from which we emerged.
As the universe continues to expand. And as our local group of galaxies continues to contract, there will inevitably come a time in the far distant future when our locial clump of matter will find itself all alone in a universe that has expanded away. Then presumably, our little stranded island of matter, in this expanding void, will itself, eventually collapse and contract into a single black hole. This then is the "eye of death" in this upside down symbol of the Big Bang.
Contraction
Contraction and a symbol of The Big Bang
Expansion and contraction define each other. It seems impossible to imagine one without the other. Although in another universe it might be different. In our universe expansion and contraction obviously play central rolls.
From contracting galactic clusters and expanding voids. To quasars with their expanding jets and contracting disks. To stars which balance expanding heat and contracting gravity. From exploding stars that leave contracting cores. To exploding stars that trigger the collapse of gas clouds and the subsequent birth of new stars. From mountains and valleys to saw blades.
In our lives expansion and contraction can become tension and compression and we have suspension bridges. Car pistons expand and contract. Brain cells excite and inhibit. Arms and legs expand and contract. Blood contracts and expands as it enters and leaves the heart. And the most personal of all, expansion and contraction come with breathing. We are all connected to the universe in so many ways.
                          Dead Stars and a Symbol of The Big Bang
The Octagod is a symbol of the Big Bang. It compresses language in the hope of making the universe more comprehensible and psychologically manageable. Naming something gives a soft ownership. So the Octagod allows a kind of ownership of the universe. Through the magic of language the Octagod makes the universe personal. When worn as an amulet,close to the body, this sense of personal ownership grows even stronger. With one side representing cosmic birth and the other cosmic death. The universe is born and dies. Stars are born and die. People are born and die. This confluence of personal and cosmic death should be part of any symbol of the Big Bang and so it is here.
White Dwarfs
White dwarfs and a symbol of The Big Bang
The Octagod amulet is a gateway to the cosmos. Donning and wearing it makes your allegiance the universe a matter of personal ritual. Placing metal upon flesh invokes the spirit of the elements. And the stars that made them.
With the Octagod the traditional stories of dead ancestors are supplemented with stories of matter itself. The white dwarf symbolizes the most essential atoms in our flesh.
As the sun dies its core will contract and its outer atmosphere will expand. As this solar atmosphere expands it will finally engulf and destroy the earth. And as it continues into space this expanding atmosphere will also ironically spread, the elements of life.
Medium sized stars like our sun, the ones that leave white dwarfs, create the most essential elements for life. White dwarfs give us carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
Neutron Stars
Neutron stars and a symbol of The Big Bang
The end stages of matter. Phase change
Black Holes
Black holes and a symbol of The Big Bang
It all comes to a point
Our Galatic Black Hole
The place of the Quasar
And the Heat Death of the Universe.
The death of life and death itself.
It comes and it goes.
Make the Universe Personal
Chain it to your body.
