THE SIXTH ISSUE - WHAT IS ENERGY?
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Thus far, it has been said that there is no such thing as space or time
or emptiness or, per se, history or consciousness - only moving things.
And it has also been said that what we call things are different foci of
varing degrees of densities which we call entities but are in a solid. We
still must account for movement. In this connection, the term "energy"
is commonly used - it is energy which moves things. Things are said to have
energy, to transmit energy, to release energy, etc. Derived from the Greek
word "erga" (action) or "ergon" (work), the idea clearly
relates to the movement of things. But is energy something, in itself?
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There is the famous formula E = mc2, in which "E" stands for
energy, "m" stands for a unit of matter in terms of its mass (weight/volume),
and "c2" is some huge factor, which, in this case, is the square
of largest known physical phenomenon - i.e., the speed of light. This formula
gives the impression that contained in a unit of matter there is a huge
amount of something called energy which is released when matter is converted
into it. But rather than being a true empirical formula, this seems to be
more of a metaphor, saying that when a unit of matter is disintegrated into
its finest elements, those elements move with a great force, called energy.
In fact, in that formula, the constant "c2" is a physical impossibility
because if there cannot be a velocity faster than the speed of light "c",
which is a postulate of physics, then squaring it would have to be a physical
impossibility. E = mc2 is not a true formula. Rather, it is a metaphor,
nothing more. It just means that a large amount of potential movement is
contained in a unit of mass. No one has ever observed energy without a form;
and energy is always correlated with the dynamics of a thing. Consequently,
energy is simply another descriptor of moving things - mostly, how the movement
of one thing effects the movement of another thing when they come in contact
with each other. Again, "space" is a descriptor for the distance
between things; and "time" is a descriptor for the relative movement
of things; and, now, "energy" can join the pantheon of non-existent
entities, it being simply a descriptor of how moving things interact with
each other when they come in contact with each other. What the idea of spirit
does in ancient metaphysics, energy does for modern physics. You can eliminate
the idea of energy as an immaterial force which animates things. It is just
a reworking of the idea of spirit.
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