Which came first - the chicken or the egg?

While excavating a site in the Middle-East, an archaeologist came upon two perfectly preserved bodies. "I've found Adam and Eve," he exclaimed.

How did he know, and what is the relevance to this story?

The chicken and egg question is one of those imponderables to which there is no real answer. A chicken can only be born from a fertilised egg laid by an adult hen. So the egg precedes the chicken, and the chicken precedes the egg.

But where did the first chicken come from? Was it created in the Garden of Eden or was the egg created first? Or was it the result of some long-winded series of mutations in a never-ending evolutionary process?

Of course, taking the evolutionary view still does not give a definitive answer. Sure the chicken probably emerged from another more primitive form of bird. One that didn't taste as good. And before that from a fish or a reptile, none of which helps to answer the question. Perhaps the first chicken emerged from an egg of a chicken-like bird or a pre-chicken, but evolution is not that simple. Was there a single point in time when someone can say with any degree of certainty that the first chicken had been born. If that is the case then it follows that the egg came first.

Of course this debate could carry on indefinitely. Was this the first chicken - or was it a pre-chicken? Where exactly can we draw the line? And isn't a pre-chicken really a chicken and who really cares, anyway?

All of which leads is to the main problem of the theory of evolution. How did life start? In the entire history of the world as we know it life has never emerged from anything but life. Even if all life originated as an amoeba, where did the first amoeba come from? With all the science in the world, man has been unable to produce life. We are able to manipulate genes, breed selectively and with a little ingenuity perhaps produce a new species. But we are unable to produce life. Not only are we unable to produce life, but life have never been observed to have emerged of its own accord.

If you haven't figured out the archaeologist's certainty about Adam and Eve, the answer is that they had no navels. As they were not born in the conventional way, there was no need for an umbilical cord. Perhaps the first chicken came readymade and the egg came later?

Life is a journey and not a destination

Life is a journey at times sweet and pleasant at other times bitter and hard. We are all on this journey, forever changing, forever growing forever dying. During the course of this journey there are many destinations. But each is merely a short stop signifying a new beginning.

As we travel along the journey of life we see many destinations ahead. We think in terms of destinations, of arriving at the desired stop. "When I turn 18 "; "When I get married"; "When I graduate"; "When I retire". But as we travel we discover that these are not destinations at all. They are merely events, stations where we can change the direction.

The journey begins on our arrival from the womb - perhaps earlier. This is our first destination, and the start of the journey through babyhood. We are curious and helpless, overwhelmed by the newness of it all. Gradually we grow stronger and more familiar with the people around us. We begin to crawl, utter our first words, and take our first tentative steps.

The next destination on our journey through life is toddlerhood. We have acquired more tools to use in our exploration. Life is still a journey of discovery. Knowledge and language are awakened. We continue through to the next destination of childhood. Now we begin to learn our place as social beings. Friends become important. The journey still focuses on learning through play and through school.

There is a thin line that signifies the next destination. The teenage years are the beginning of a period of self discovery, of defining out unique identity. During this part of the journey our peers and the outside world assume a much greater importance. We need to be cool - accepted and admired by our social groups. We experience the pressures of the wider society. We break away, rejecting our childhood naivety. We become risk takers, experimenting with life. This is the part of the journey where sexual awareness has begun. The next few years are dominated by the search for partners.

The journey continues to the next destination of adulthood. With school days over we enter the world of business and work. Suddenly we are able to earn our own money, make our own decisions. Perhaps we meet a life partner. We marry and live happily ever after.

The fairy tales make this part of the journey seem like the destination of life. Young people dream of marriage which will tell them that they have arrived. But arriving at this station is another turning point in our journey through life. We are now in a partnership and much is till to follow. We have become a family. This is the next destination and a start of a whole new adventure. As our babies grow and develop our journey through life continues.

We experience success and failure, joy and heartbreak. The journey never stops, not even for a moment. In the blink of an eye our children are beginning to strike out, forming their own relationships and having their own children. Suddenly we are grandparents. Yet still we do not feel old!. Now the newlyweds look like children! How can they be ready to take on this journey alone?

Gradually we get older. We approach the final destination of life, the destination from which no-one returns.

Life is a journey taking us on a rocky ride. The destinations are merely new beginnings, a new phase of the journey. There will be highs and lows, happiness and grief. But as long as we live, the journey carries on.

"Life is a journey; enjoy the ride;

be kind along the way." -Lori Carangelo

It's all in the mind - Where is the real world?

To some, reality only exists in our mind's eye. Reality only exists in our consciousness. For millennia people have tried to understand the nature of reality. Newtonian physics describes a world where the laws of nature govern a rather straightforward and real world. Does an objective reality exist, or is reality something that is created through our perceptions of the world around us?

Schrdinger's cat is a classic and rather misleading illustration that reality does not exist until observed. A cat is placed into a sealed box. Inside the box is a vial of deadly gas that will be released if a random quantum event occurs. The quantum event is the decay of an isotope. Until the box is opened there is no way of knowing if the cat is dead or alive. The cat is therefore in an indeterminate quantum state. It is simultaneously dead and alive. When the box is opened the cat is either alive or dead.

The argument that there is no reality without consciousness has been attributed to quantum physics.

Schrdinger used this example as a critique of the theory of quantum states. In reality the cat dies when the random event occurs even if we are not aware of the event. To the cat, the random event is very real.

Substitute the cat for a person. Is the person simultaneously alive and dead?

Quantum physics has produced a rather new and bizarre view of the world. The world works in ways that are far more complex than ever imagined. Ayn Rand put it quite succinctly when he distinguished between the "primacy of consciousness" against the "primacy of things".

Many attribute the "it's all in the mind" philosophy to quantum physics. But some prominent scientists dispute this interpretation. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is perhaps the source of this misconception. The principle states that "quantum phenomena have no definite values until they are observed". Simply interpreted, every quantum object has an indefinite value until it is observed and measured. Therefore reality is an illusion. Or is it?

The question is one of interpretation. The use of the word 'observe' is more than a little misleading. It is intended to refer to the interactions of one quantum phenomena to another. In other words, an object has an indefinite value until it interacts with another object. Whether we observe it or not is hardly relevant.

So even in quantum physics there is space for an objective reality that exists independently of us. Whether we observe a stream gushing forth from the earth it will continue on its course.

Our perceptions of the world may conflict with the underlying reality. People bring their own learning and understanding to every event and to every place. Contrary to popular opinion, quantum physics has illustrated that objective reality is dramatically different from the perceived reality that we experience from day to day. Our consciousness perceives and interprets reality. Our conscious perception of reality can vary from time to time according to our mental state. The reality of quantum physics is not the reality of our perceptions.

Perceptions change over time. Perceptions change according to our age. When we are happy reality seems very different to when we are sad or distressed. Drugs such as LSD can alter our perception of the world. LSD affects the perception of time and space in quite a profound way. Reality has not changed, merely its perception. Perceptions may alter our personal reality, but outside of our perceptions is an objective reality.

The Concept of Time

A New Year has arrived. Not for the first time! The cycle repeats itself over and over. Yet year after year, time after time. As the clock strikes midnight, the world fills with with the sounds of joy and celebration.

In our concept of time, a year is an entity in itself. What may in reality be a human construct, an arbitrary demarcation in the eternal scheme of things, becomes a great reality to us. Time for a new start. Time to put the dissapointments of the last year behind us. "Maybe this year will be better than the last" is the hope permeating mankind.

The concept of time is one that encompases the very nature of the world and the universe. We measure time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries and milleniums. But even without measurement, the world keeps on turning. The new replaces the old. That time is relative is not in question. On a different planet time may move more slowly. To G-d, a thousand years may be like a second, but our concept of time is governed by the way we experience it.

In the words of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards "Time waits for no one and it won't wait for me" (the Rolling Stones, 1974).

Our universe is bound by time. We can never stop the hands of time from moving on, taking us through the journey of life. Everything happens in time. The world will turn, the seasons will change. New life is born, grows and eventually dies. People change, countries change, governments change. It happens in time.

An ancient story is told about King Solomon. He sought out a ring that would be able to affect the very spiritual being of man. A ring that would be able to make a happy man sad and a sad man happy. Eventually, a ring was brought. There were three Hebrew letters engraved upon it - G, Z and Y. King Solomon saw the letters and instantly grasped the meaning. The letters signified the Hebrew words Gam Ze Yaavor - This Too Shall Pass. When reaping the rewards of success, it reminds us that this too shall pass. When success eludes us and we are suffering in the depths of despair, again we are reminded that this too shall pass.

This reveals one of the greatest truths. The circular nature of life and time. Look at the ring in good times. Look at it in bad times. At all times we must realise that this too must pass. Success, failure, pleasure and suffering. All are transitory. All will pass. Time will move on and even catastrophic events will disappear in history.

In Judaism, round apples are dipped in honey to symbolise the circularity of time at the New Year. Round foods are eaten after a funeral to remind us of the circular nature if life.

Since the most ancient times, man has found ways of measuring time. The rotation of the earth and our annual journey around the sun provide us with days and years. The moon has provided months. We divide the day into hours, minutes and seconds. Sunset to sunset. Sunrise to sunrise.

We have created calendars to chart the passage of time. We have the time clockThe calendar is filled with special dates that we can remember. Dates that signify events, birthdays, anniversaries and deaths. Dates that signify the passing of years, festivals, political and religious holidays.

Everything in life can change. We journey through time through the seasons of life. There is no destination. Time continues to move on. Everything happens in time. Opportunity, luck, disaster, success and failure can only happen in time. Once it has passed there is no going back. "If only I had known ... " is a common refrain. But there is only one way and that is forward. Forward through time.