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Book and film reviews

About the discovery of God on the edge of the universe

(Published in GralsWelt 40/2006)

From Helmut Hansen, Verlag Via Nova, 36100 Petersberg.

The present book has a surprising title, which at first suggests highly esoteric explanations full of transcendent speculations. Then you are pleasantly surprised when reading it, because it is a thoroughly factual work that is worth reading.
First, the reader is shown the former importance of metaphysics as a branch of philosophy. The core of this medieval metaphysics were the various proofs of God, the most important of which are clearly explained. When, in 1781, in his “Critique of Pure Reason”, Kant provided evidence that is still valid today that all scientific proofs of God are an impossibility, the end of the once so important philosophical metaphysics began. Some theologians hold on to medieval proofs of God to this day, but these theological operations have long since ceased to be scientific.
In the third and fourth parts of his book, Helmut Hansen proves to be a transcendent open-minded person who ultimately even dares to try a scientific proof of God. His explanations are structured logically and not only understandable to physicists. Most religious people will agree with his conclusion that one can recognize God in creation by his effects on creation. Then he tries a proof of transcendence on the basis of Foucault's pendulum and the "correspondence of the inertia compass with the star compass".
In the context of Newtonian mechanics, the behavior of the Foucault pendulum (inertia compass) is evident. Since the "absolute space" defined by Newton can no longer be held, it is more difficult to explain why the Foucault pendulum permanently maintains its plane of oscillation. Now physicists ask which coordinates the Foucault pendulum is oriented towards: Is its direction of oscillation determined by the center of the Milky Way, by distant galaxies, or by the universe as a whole? Hansen sees the fact that the pendulum, undeterred by the rotation of the earth, maintains its plane of oscillation, a proof of God that not many physicists will accept.
For astronomers, this problem with spatial coordinates does not exist; because for some time we have known the "great attractor" in the constellation Centaurus. It is an enormous mass accumulation (of billions of solar masses?) In the distant universe, towards which the “local group” (Milky Way, Andromeda Nebula and a few other galaxies) is moving. The (now measurable) direction of movement of the local group then provides an excellent direction around the room, which can be referred to.