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Space
As a species, we have a propensity to believe only in those
things which are easily discernible to our senses. We tend to
dismiss out of hand the existence of those things which are too
small to be seen or not dense enough to be felt. The existence of
microbes is only a fairly recent discovery, and air was once
thought of in much the same way we now think of space. To
primitive man air was 'nothing'. It wasn't
visible. It offered little resistance to motion. It seemed to
have no discernible attributes other than its inertness. They
were mystified by the invisible forces of wind. Today, space
seems to us to be nothing. You can't see it, taste it
or feel it. Space propagates electro magnetism, but not sound. We
are mystified by the invisible forces of gravity. Space
doesn't appear to have any mass and it offers no measurable
resistance to motion. It seems to have only one attribute -
volume - which is actually VERY important. For if it wasn't
for that single redeeming feature, the Universe would be a solid
block of matter in a state of critical mass with nowhere to
explode, and things would be really uncomfortable.
It is important to remember that most of the Universe is not
material in nature and that which IS material encompasses a wide
array of different components. If we allow our imaginations to be
governed solely by our senses, we must conclude that space is but
a single element - an inert ethereal sea devoid of properties. If
we reflect on what we know and what might be possible, it could
be that space is comprised of a vast spectrum of elements more
numerous than those which populate the Periodic Table. And as our planet plunges
through the endless sea of space, variations in the
concentrations of those ethereal elements may have a subtle - but
very real - effect upon our environment and our lives.
ANYTHING - material or otherwise - which has a presence within
the Universe exists. Space and matter are two very
different forms of physical manifestation. Space is ethereal in
nature and matter is material in nature. Both
exist, and the existence of an infinite expanse of
space devoid of matter requires no less logical justification
than would an infinite expanse of matter devoid of space.
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