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The Second Law: Hot, Cold and Lukewarm
A
few nights ago my wife Michele and I were conversing about the
confused and troubled state of our world. In the context of that
discussion we brought in the concept of the Second Law of
Thermodynamics as it seems to apply to social systems. Later in
the week I came across the same subject as I was reading,
Einstein -- His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (Simon
& Schuster, 2007). My interest was piqued because this universal
physical law seems to apply equally well to the social and
spiritual realms of our lives.
The
Second Law of Thermodynamics is an expression of the universal
law of increasing entropy (disorder or randomness in a closed
system). It has several equivalent expressions:
It
states that the entropy of an isolated system not in
equilibrium will tend to increase over time until the system
attains equilibrium. For example in a closed system (one
isolated from outside forces) if a container is filled
with boiling water and then ice is added, the boiling water will
cool and the ice will warm (melt) until a state of equilibrium
is reached -- i.e., until the two elements in this system are in
balance with one another. Both the boiling water and the ice
experience entropy, moving from their original state of hot or
cold to something akin to lukewarm. Note that in a closed
system it is not possible for the ice to form again or for the
water to return to a boil, i.e., to go back to their original
states.
The
second law also states that heat flows naturally from hot to
cold, but not the reverse, without the influence of a force
outside the system.
Finally, it states that any spontaneous process tends to
increase the entropy of a system, but never the
reverse. For example, perfume molecules drift out of an open
bottle and into a room, but do not spontaneously gather together
and all drift back into the bottle.
The
precepts of this law cause me to recognize a few obvious
relationships between the spiritual and the natural worlds in
which we live. Can good fruit come from an unhealthy tree? Can
light and darkness exist in the same system? I seem to remember
that God separated the light from the darkness. Is it better to
be hot or cold? Jesus, speaking to the Christian church, said
that because they were neither hot nor cold he would have
nothing to do with them (literally "spit you out of my mouth").
The
idea of entropy in my life causes me to envision a life that is
an equal mix of light and darkness, not too light and not too
dark; it is a life lived primarily for my own benefit but with
enough mention of God that I might appear religious, pious, or a
"good" man, while largely ignoring the needs of others.
I am
determined not to let entropy occur in my life. Rather, I want
to constantly be living a life out of which flows love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and
compassion. But to live this way I am in constant need of an outside force
influencing the "system" of my life -- the spirit of the living
God.
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