The Matriverse & Other Essays: A Hypothesis or Model of the Origin of the Universe

By Mano Govindaraj

This book consists of seven essays of which four spiritual ones are described here. The other three are secular.

The Matriverse presents a new hypothesis for the birth of universes and the origin of our own universe. A Breakfast Reverie is a Christian approach to the theory of evolution. The English Language is about the role of God in human history, using the rise and fall of the British Empire as an example. In Turning the Clock Back the author argues that the gospel of St. Matthew must have been written before the Ascension of Jesus Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503557628

Mano Govindaraj

Manoharan Govindaraj comes from an originally Hindu ethnic group of South India. His family had converted to Christianity in the nineteenth century and migrated to Sri Lanka. His Hindu heritage and the Buddhist environment in which he grew up gave him a unique view of Christian spirituality. He is an accountant by profession. His writings display these various influences of his life. Mano later migrated to the United States and became naturalized as a US citizen. He lives with his family in Washington, DC, where he pursues his twin professions of public accountancy and information systems assurance.

Book preview

The Matriverse

(A hypothesis or model for the

Origin of the Universe)

& Other Essays

Mano Govindaraj

Xlibris Copyright © Mano Govindaraj 2015.

First published by Xlibris © Mano Govindaraj 2010.

Revised edition © Mano Govindaraj 2015.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2015904861

ISBN:      Hardcover     978-1-5035-5761-1

               Softcover       978-1-5035-5763-5

               eBook            978-1-5035-5762-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 04/25/2015

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

708488

CONTENTS

Dedication

Preface to the 2nd Edition

1.   THE MATRIVERSE

A hypothesis or model for the origin of the Universe

2.   A BREAKFAST REVERIE

Christian approach to the theory of evolution

3.   THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Reflections on the rise and fall of the British Empire

4.   TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

An earlier date for the Gospel of St. Matthew

5.   A CHILDHOOD SHOCKER

Memories of an intellectual encounter

6.   APRIL 15

Deadline for Income Tax filing in the USA

7.   OVERTRADING WITHOUT BRAKES

New approach to the Economic Recession of 2008

DEDICATION

On January 10, 2006 I became a proud citizen of the United States. I dedicate this publication to the intellectual freedom of my new homeland that inspired me to freely express these original thoughts.

Most of the ideas expressed in these essays were a long time in the making. To my parents and extended family who nurtured my Christian values, to the dedicated teachers of Mowbray Girls School, an Anglican institution and of Kingswood College, a Methodist High School, both of which nestle in the hills around the ancient and beautiful city of Kandy in Sri Lanka who nurtured my education, I now humbly and additionally dedicate this little handiwork.

Mano Govindaraj

Washington D.C.

January 2010

Preface to the 2nd Edition

It is a great pleasure to publish the second edition of this book. Information in each of the seven essays has been updated. Some words and phraseology were revised in response to suggestions by readers and friends. The order of presentation was re-arranged to reflect their associated themes. Essays 1 – 4 are compositions of inspiration. The common theme underlying them is that all things were created by a single God and therefore must have a single explanation as to origin, existence and end. The last two essays are about secular topics drawn from my professional life. They are interpretations of events in the financial world and not intended to provide inspiration or spirituality.

Let these essays provide you some thought provoking and engaging reading.

Mano Govindaraj

Washington D.C.

February 2015

ESSAY 1

THE MATRIVERSE

A hypothesis or model for the origin of the Universe

Introduction

A model is a representation of a line of reasoning that attempts to explain something not known yet. How do we know anything? We know by experiencing it with at least one of our senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Whatever we cannot experience through our senses we imagine or make a model in our minds. For example when we first heard about the solar system we could not actually see it. So, we looked at drawings or models of what a solar system looks like. That model registered in our brain, and that is how we first learned about a solar system. A model about an unknown physical thing helps us to picture it in our minds and seek more evidence of whether it exists and what it may really look like.

The foundation for this essay was laid many years ago in youthful attempts to reconcile the account of creation narrated in the Bible with scientific knowledge we learnt in high school and college. The Biblical description of Creation suggested that the earth, sun, moon and stars were created together followed immediately by living things including humans in six days, about seven thousand years ago. This calculation was made by counting the lives of the patriarchs backwards from Methuselah in the first book of the Bible.

In science classrooms we learnt that seven-day Creation was downright impossible. Geological, cosmological, paleontological, and radiological evidence had shown that the earth must have been in existence for millions of years. Our earth is a satellite of our Sun which is a part of our galaxy called the milky way which is a part of our Universe. How did all of this come into existence? Scientists believe that the universe must have come into existence by some unknown natural process. That too is a model or hypothesis waiting to be proved.

The effort of grappling with this Science versus Religion dilemma led me to develop the model or hypothesis described in this essay. I had been continually thinking about it for over three decades. It grew from a simple guess into a model about the origin or cause of our Universe, and its ultimate fate.

A Challenge begins

The challenge arose when I began studies at the University of Sri Lanka for a degree in geography. The syllabus included geomorphology, a subject that focuses on why mountains, hills and valleys are shaped the way they are. The outward shape of landforms is influenced by the rocks and soil that underlie them. This inevitably leads to a study of what the earth is, what it is composed of, its origin and nature. Since the earth is part of the solar system it leads into an inquiry about the origin and composition of the solar system and the galaxy of which it is a part, and indeed of the Universe itself. At that point the origin of the Universe becomes relevant to an understanding of landforms on earth.

The theory of the big bang

The current scientific explanation for the origin of the universe is the hypothesis of the big bang. That hypothesis can be summarized as follows: we observe the universe using light emitted by luminous bodies such as stars. Study of light demonstrates that the universe is expanding. Based on that observation it is hypothesized that all the material in the Universe may have been originally packed into a tiny space like a particle of dust. The pressure within that particle may have been great and unimaginable. Suddenly this particle exploded in a big bang. After that explosion the materials expanded to form our universe which is still expanding. Therefore, if you go back in time the universe must have been smaller. How small? That theory gives no explanation for a limit to smallness. The Hubble telescope has gone backwards in time and demonstrated that the Universe was smaller when it was younger.

Indeed, a recent line of argument among scientists is about nothingness. A speck of dust is something. How could something exist inside nothing? Thus the possible existence of nothingness is an intellectual challenge right now. Further if the universe is expanding, into what is it expanding – into the surrounding nothingness?

For the ordinary person the big bang is a problem of faith. Is it easier to believe that everything in the