Supermassive Black Holes - Mass Energy Equivalence and Reincarnation

Matter and Energy Are Two Different Relative Forms of the Same Thing

Vikas D. Reddy, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Dec 23, 2008 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

The supermassive black hole is one of the most destructive forces in the universe. The singularity point (gravitational singularity) in the very center of the black hole swallows up matter and even prevents light from escaping. On November 20, 2008, physicists from France, Belgium, and Germany have officially proven Albert Einstein's famed mass-energy equation - E = mc², through experiment after over a century of its creation. This brings many questions about the theory of reincarnation; specifically reincarnation in the Hindu religion.

Einstein's special theory of relativity specifically applies to black holes and sheds light on what happens when things get sucked into even larger forces, such as the supermassive black hole. Now with the mass energy equivalence theory proven, the possibility of reincarnation has gained more speculative ground.

What is a Supermassive Black Hole?

A supermassive black hole is an exceptionally gigantic black hole, located in the centers of very large galaxies. They are defined by having a solar mass between 10⁵ and 10¹⁰ solar masses. One solar mass is equivalent to the mass of our Sun. This means that a supermassive black hole can be up to 100 trillion times larger than the sun and massive enough to swallow our entire solar system from sheer size alone.

These black holes are in the center of every galaxy - and one is believed to be in our very own Milky Way galaxy.

Supermassive Black Hole Singularity and Reincarnation

The black hole information paradox states that the laws of physics are broken in the singularity point, the center where all matter and light is sucked in and 'destroyed.' However, physical information being destroyed violates the law of conservation of mass.

Stephen Hawking's theory of black hole radiation of light energy (Hawking Radiation) explains what happens to unlucky victims and matter that is pulled into the event horizon; which shows that matter and chemical reactions inside the black hole release thermal radiation caused by quantum effects. Things that go into a black hole do not disappear - they are transformed and released as energy. The reincarnation analogy comes into play once again.

However, scientists and astrophysicists still do not know exactly what happens to the physical information that is decimated by the supermassive black hole.

Reincarnation in Hinduism

Reincarnation took its root in Hinduism and various other religions, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and most traditional schools of thought in the East. The great question scientists and philosophers ask is how energy is related to the 'soul.' We know energy exists because it influences temperature, defines thermodynamics, and it can be harnessed to power our civilization. Even though energy is invisible, we know it still exists all around us. And like the law of conservation of energy states - energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Something so intangible is still physically useable and that analogy works much in the same way with reincarnation and the conservation of 'souls.'

The late Carl Sagan, one of the most successful astronomers in American history, credited the Hindu religion for being the most accurate about the age of the modern universe:

"We know that the Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and the cosmos, or at least its present incarnation, is something like 10 or 20 billion years old. The Hindu tradition has a day and night of Brahma in this range, somewhere in the region of 8.4 billion years. It is the only ancient religious tradition on the Earth which talks about the right time-scale. In the West, people have the sense that what is natural is for the universe to be a few thousand years old, and that billions is indwelling, and no one can understand it."

The Bottom Line About Mass, Energy, Black Holes, and Reincarnation

The bottom line is that we now know that nothing can be truly destroyed based on the laws of physics. Albert Einstein theorized over a century ago that the two fundamental factors that make up the universe - matter and energy - are different relative forms of the same thing. It is impossible to know what happens to a person's soul and it doesn't get easier when figuring out how to research such an abstract concept. Skeptics continue to debate the existence of reincarnation because it cannot be empirically understood.

Everything in the universe - black holes, stars, people, animals, and planets - are made up of atoms. Cosmic stardust. Did you know that the atoms that make up your body and objects around you have once been part of stars and various space phenomena ranging billions of years ago? 'Reincarnation' makes sense when dealing with ever-moving and changing particles of mass and energy.

In the end it is a great achievement for science to prove that the fundamental characteristic of all things can never be destroyed. And if it is caught in something as powerful as a supermassive black hole, it is simply converted to heat energy relative to the mass of the matter. To us as human beings, in the strictest sense, it simply means that life will always go on and there is no force that exists that has the power to destroy energy itself.

Published by Vikas D. Reddy

Vikas is a medical student, martial artist, and a long-time gamer. He has practiced Tae Kwon Do, Kendo, and boxing for over seven years. Vikas is currently a writer and co-editor for his college magazine... View profile

Supermassive Black Holes - Mass Energy Equivalence and Reincarnation

Matter and Energy Are Two Different Relative Forms of the Same Thing

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