On rare occasions, I contemplate about something completely unrelated to what I’m doing. This time, I was preparing my popcorn in a microwave. A common piece of kitchen machinery that you can find in any household in America. While I was putting the seeds in the microwave and letting light be, the thoughts about the universe and its birth were pacing through my head rapidly. The corn seeds kept popping, each small pop was like an explosion. When bangs stopped, there was no light. My popcorn was ready and hot seeds started emitting heat and smell.
My TV went crazy as I switched the channel to the one where the Big Bang was shown. The whole screen was made of static. Intricate swirls of energy perplexed me for a moment and I could physically feel the heat of the Big Bang… Or, was it my popcorn? I tried my best to concentrate on the image catching every glimpse of weird patterns shifting their shape on the screen of my TV.
Image Credit: Histolines
One of the most interesting things about the Big Bang is that it was truly big. We can still see the postmortem of that big explosion that gave birth to our universe. The radiation is still here flowing through the universe as it slowly cools down. The length of waves shrinks and eventually they become microwaves. Undoubtedly, the very discovery of these waves and inventing methods of measuring them were pivotal achievements of modern astronomy.
Amazing, but even before science introduced to us delicate instruments and new methods, we could see the aftermath of the Big Bang. If you turn on your TV and set to an empty channel, you will see lots of gray static. This static is the radiation leftovers from the Big Bang. This flickering and ever changing imagery is the birth photo of our universe. Somewhere amongst illusive patterns on my screen our Milky Way can be found.
Our old TVs pick up radiation that flows from the deeps of our universe. When you switch to the channel where a police detective and his partner solve criminal cases, white snow may disrupt the image for a second. Is that the Big Bang? Is that its gentle touch that energizes our emotions and flows through us?
The image was simple. There was no shooting, no explosions, and no romance. I just saw the static and heard some indistinct white noise. These are the microwaves that are travelling through the universe. These microwaves are still capable of agitating us, of pulling the strings of our very souls. Like a barely noticeable touch of ancient times.
The energy that fills cosmos is not that exciting. The waves are getting everywhere and touch everything, yet nothing reacts. The stones are lying still, the air doesn’t move, and even our sensitive antennas catch only this gray static. However, these microwaves can have an incredible effect on a person. When one starts realizing the very phenomenon of his own existence and connects himself with the universe and its history on a completely new level, the consciousness comes into play and embraces the Big Bang that gives birth to your conscious life.