Second Coming the novel: Extending the Entertainment

Are superstrings the theory of everything?

In the novel, Paul Genet tells his story to the abbot of a monastery he seeks to join. After Paul finishes, the abbot asks Paul questions to further help decide whether to admit him or not. Here, Paul comments on the so-called theory of everything. —Editor

Abbot: Are superstrings the theory of everything?

Paul: Superstrings assume a background of space-time. Where does space-time come from?* If superstrings—or it’s latest iteration, M-theory—cannot account for space-time, how can superstrings be the theory of everything?

Is balance the theory of everything? Who knows? Like superstrings and other contenders as the theory of everything, balance as the arbiter of all existence cannot be proved or disproved and requires a leap of faith.

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus rejects all leaps of faith because they appeal to mystery. “I do not want to found anything on the incomprehensible,” he wrote. I agree. And I would dismiss balance as the operating principle of the universe except for the fact that balance is easily comprehended by everyone. Balance not only does not appeal to mystery, it deconstructs mystery. You do not have to believe in balance. Balance is experiential and intuitive. It comes from within.

Balance does it for me. All I have to do is imagine that the balance I experience in everything everyday is truly ubiquitous and defines the totality of existence as well. However, just because it is easy to project balance as the be all and end all of existence, that doesn’t make it so. I go with balance because it makes more sense to me than any theology or philosophy, East or West, ever invented. I don’t have to appeal outside of myself to some so-called authority. I suspect I know balance because I am of balance and balance is of me.

^* Paul’s question here is rhetorical—he knows the origin of space-time. It derives, or is an effect of, subject-object split and is a phenomenon only of the classical physical paradigm which posits reality as individual objects with unique identities (more).

How comprehensible is balance?

‘Second Coming’ protagonist, Paul Genet, answers questions about his universe:

What is time?

Why is there something rather than nothing?

What is the true nature of existence?

Does God exist in the balanced universe of Paul Genet?

Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?

Is the universe a computer?

Will there ever be a coherent theory of quantum gravity?

Is Schrödinger's cat both alive and dead in a balanced quantum universe?

What is memory?

What is the origin of language?