The Fabric of Space-Time Defined: Why Gravity Waves Require the Aether
Many people are heralding this new discovery of gravity waves, but I’d like to make some important comments about this “discovery” and its relationship to subtle energy.
First, it’s crucial to point out that what Brian Greene, in this video, refers to as a “direct detection” of gravity waves is not a direct detection at all. To be precise, this discovery involves a detection of a subtle shift in a sophisticated laser interference pattern. And while this shift is perceived to be due to the presence of gravity waves, the detection in question actually refers to the EFFECT of gravity waves, not gravity waves themselves. So, technically speaking, this discovery represents the detection of the EFFECTS of gravity waves rather than gravity waves themselves. I realize that this may seem to be a rather petty point to make, but the real point I’m about to make is actually for more important than this fact.
Science has never been able to tell us, exactly, what fills space-time and therefore constitutes its “fabric,” giving space-time the ability to ripple and curve. Late 19th century and early 20th century science once entertained the idea that space was filled with a luminiferous aether, a subtle fluidic particulate medium that filled all space and through which light traveled. After the completion of the Michelson-Morley experiment, however, this idea of the aether was considered to be mistaken.
Other researchers have discovered holes in the Michelson-Morley experiment and have since conducted additional experiments indicating the presence of an aether. Yet, even though these results have been replicated and published, they’ve not been adopted by the mainstream scientific community. Indeed, college textbooks still uphold the original but mistaken findings of the Michelson-Morley experiment to be the defining statement on the supposed existence of the aether.
The reason the aether is so important to the topic of gravity waves is because gravity waves, like light, require something—a medium—through which to travel. All this elated talk about the “direct detection” of gravity waves has, so far, completely ignored this fact. All this talk about the rippling of space-time has neither asked nor answered the question of “what,” exactly, is it IN space-time that is rippling and shifting.
The world’s wisdom traditions and early scientific ideas converge around the idea of a subtle ocean of invisible energy—the aether—filling all of space and time. But modern science has chosen to replace this idea with what has been called the “quantum field” or the “zero point” field. This latter term refers to experiments in which attempts at creating a total vacuum by reaching the temperature of absolute zero in a chamber ultimately failed when it was discovered that small quantum fluctuations could still be detected in the so-called vacuum. As author and researcher Dan Davidson has pointed out, however, this zero point field is just another name for the aether. Rather than admit that it was wrong, Davidson theorizes, modern science instead chose to rename the aether the “quantum vacuum.”
Why is all this so important in relation to the so-called “direct detection” of gravity waves? First, because, as I’ve already mentioned, this detection is not at all a direct detection of gravity waves but is instead a detection of what is INTERPRETED to be gravity waves. Secondly, the little known but immensely meaningful field of subtle energy research includes numerous experiments in which subtle energy has been found to produce effects similar, if not identical, to those of both gravity and anti-gravity. And in fact there are a number of subtle energy researchers who have proposed that subtle energetic (or aetheric) processes form the causal level behind the four known forces in physics, one of which is gravity. Furthermore, this subtle energetic, aetheric force, sometimes referred to as “torsion,” has been proposed to be the “fifth force” of physics.
Movement Requires a Medium
All that said, if gravity waves do indeed require a subtle aetheric medium through which to travel, and if we know that space-time is filled with an infinite ocean of quantum fluctuations of energy, how can we possibly differentiate between the aetheric medium through which the gravity waves are moving and the gravity waves themselves? In other words, it is very likely, based on the little known but important field of subtle energy research, that the aether and gravity are either the same thing or very closely related. If that is in fact the case, and I’d bet my life on it that it is, how can these researchers be so self-assured that the subtle shift they have detected is not in fact the aether itself?
Again, this may at first seem to be a petty point. But when you see the subtle delineation I’m about to make, you’ll understand why it is a mistake to jump on the bandwagon and call this discovery a direct detection of gravity waves.
Let’s use the difference between waves and water to get a clearer picture of this discovery. Water is a medium, and we’ll use it to represent the medium of the aether. Waves are composed of energy moving THROUGH water. If you watch waves in the ocean, upon closer examination you’ll discover that, while the waves appear to be moving in a certain direction, the water that they are moving THROUGH is not necessarily moving in that direction at all. In fact, it’s often staying in its place while moving upward and downward in response to the energy moving THROUGH it.
This is very likely what is happening with gravity waves and the aether. As the gravity waves move THROUGH the aether, its undulating movement in turn causes the laser interference pattern to shift as well. And as a result, I am convinced that what these researchers have actually detected is the effect of the MOVEMENT of gravity energy THROUGH the aether, like energy waves through water. What they’ve actually detected, in other words, is not just the effect of gravity waves but of the aether as well.
Remember, without a medium there can be no movement. So in essence this discovery is honoring only the movement but NOT the MEDIUM through which the movement is taking place. Yes, it does acknowledge space-time as this so-called medium, but it does so without explaining HOW space-time can be a medium in the first place. The aether explains the HOW, and is a crucial understanding to unlocking many of the mysteries of science. But for some reason, conventional science largely remains blind to the obvious, like a fish refusing to acknowledge the existence of the ocean.
