Absolute Zero - Aug 27 2021

 

Absolute Zero

Aug 27 2021

So what was the point?

Starting with a Big Bang,

when something out of nothing

materialized.

An idea that begs understanding,

but serves its purpose

so never mind.

Yes, I will grant

there was an infinitesimal fragment of time

when life could flourish.

On earth, for sure,

and as some contend

wherever there are planets and stars.

If the universe has a purpose

perhaps this is it;

that given existence

and the laws of physics

there will be life.

     . . .  Although intelligent life

is something else again;

and I have good cause to wonder

about even us.

And then, after more years

than there are atoms in the universe

all that remain

will be white dwarfs, glowing faintly

and the cooling black cinders

of remnant stars,

as dull as the stump of a candle

guttering out,

the dimmest bulb

in a stone-walled dungeon

underground.

Along with photons

incrementally dying,

their energy draining away

as the universe expands

and matter thins.

Until the final dregs of entropy

are completely wrung out

and creation goes dark.

To the ancient Greeks

the circle reflected perfection

and so it will be,

from nothing to nothing

beginning to end.

Which is when the arrow of time

will have reached its completion

and been rendered meaningless,

because at absolute zero

nothing can change.

Or could there be another Big Bang?

A parallel universe?

Or even a God,

in whose mind's eye

we are merely a figment?

None of which matters.

Because clearly, in a fleeting life

there can be only now.

So while the physicists calculate

and nihilist speculate

and theologians wave their hands,

I happily choose

to accept my fate,

living each day

as if it counts.

I'm a nihilist. Not in a destroy everything and let terror, anarchy, and unbridled hedonism reign. I mean in the sense of recognizing one's insignificance in a cold indifferent universe. I have settled on this worldview because it engenders not only a becoming humility, but permits an amused sort of detachment and perspective taking. In other words, don't take yourself so seriously! You are not at the centre – not even close! – and no one but you is keeping score.

Last night, I watched most of an episode of BBC Earth's brilliant Wonders of the Universe, by the Cambridge physicist Dr. Brian Cox. This episode as about time and its relationship to the notion of entropy, and what I took away from it – as I sat down the next day to write – thoroughly informs this poem.

I've always said that nothing ultimately matters, because the earth will be consumed by a supernova anyway. It is all dust, and we will all be as quickly forgotten – even the famous and “important” – just as all our untended graves will be overgrown and our remains subsumed by the soil. But if a supernova is in an inconceivably distant future, the time until the end of the universe is utterly beyond comprehension: so many zeros, it defies counting. Nevertheless, we have the privilege not only of life, but of both intelligence and self-consciousness – something too improbable to contemplate – and so it is incumbent on us to celebrate it. In other words, even a nihilist can construct meaning, live passionately, and choose integrity. So the poem moves from futility to living meaningfully: which may not be a problem for physicists, who have so supple an intelligence they actually understand the Big Bang(!); but is, I admit, quite a stretch for a self-proclaimed nihilist!

These are the hardest poems to write. Not actually so hard to write – because I enjoy big ideas – but hard to write in a way that would interest most readers. This is because complicated ideas lend themselves to prose, not the distilled compression of poetry. And because poetry should be visceral and allusive – evoking emotion and sensation – not intellectual and linear. And because poems are best when they're personal, not detached and analytical. I hope this one succeeds, at least partially. Because it was fun to write. And even if it doesn't work, I appreciate the opportunity this commentary has given me to defend nihilism and express something of my worldview.