INITIAL CONDITIONS
Armando Martínez
First Edition: December 31, 1999
Second Edition: December 31, 2005 |
(Book Cover)
Throughout the History of mankind, a never-ending quest has consumed many of those who have preceded us, as well as many of us still around, as to the origins of Man and the Universe itself. The pivotal question, in the end, has always been the same: Is all we see and hear and experience the mere result of a natural phenomenon, which was just waiting to happen, or is there any evidence whatsoever that some actual design had to take place before the Universe itself came into being? Such a design, if traceable in some manner, would necessarily point to some type of cognitive force or advanced intelligence responsible for much, if not all, of what we see, hear and experience, as part of a plan laid out many eons ago. If such a design actually took place, do we have any hope of actually grasping some evidence or argument in favor or such a hypothesis, or are we doomed in the midst of a materialistic society that has enthroned science as its ultimate source of truth, to be forever blinded about our true origins?
As it turns out, we may be able to address the above issue, provided we start with the right questions at the very beginning and hold steadfastly to what common sense and logic tell us. Although the use of reason in an attempt to explore something for which reason alone may not be enough might sound ridiculous, it is only through our powers of reasoning that we may have any chance of uncovering some important truths in our data or arrive at some conclusions which faith alone cannot provide us.
Throughout this book, some major issues will be reviewed, bringing into the big picture part of the most recent findings and observations put forth by some of the avant-garde thinkers and philosophers who at this very moment are trying to push the limits of human knowledge into what until now has been mostly uncharted territory. A lot of this knowledge has been hard to come by, and has consumed entire lives throughout the ages, especially in the latter part of the second millennium. Though there is always the possibility that our current state-of-the-art knowledge and findings could be rendered obsolete with new breakthroughs and discoveries yet to be carried out during the third millennium, there is some degree of confidence that such new knowledge will expand rather than demolish what we already know, and it is with this confidence that we should begin our voyage of discovery into what used to be uncharted territory.
This book was written for the layman. Every effort has been made to avoid hiding relevant material under mathematical theories and models that would require an advanced college degree in the sciences. If at some point the reader feels intimidated by what seems to be obscure terminology, the reader is encouraged to just glance quickly over such terminology and keep on moving forward. The references that have been cited throughout this book are for the most part also intended to be within the grasp of the general reader, and material which can otherwise be found in college textbooks has been set aside, so that the reader will not feel overwhelmed with needless technical data. If the effort to keep things simple has not been good enough throughout, please accept my most sincere apologies with the promise that those areas presenting some difficulty will be improved in future editions of this book.
Wherever possible, every effort has been made to quote some of the original sources verbatim (including their typos!) in order to convey the opinions expressed by each source as faithfully and as clearly as possible, even if we may disagree with some of their observations, and we must respect the opinions of others much as we would like others to respect our own points of view.
Before we start, a caveat is in order: this book was not written with the intention of endorsing any particular type of religion or faith. However, as we move forward, certain conclusions will come into the panorama. It will be inevitable.
