Stephen Hawking And The Theory Of Everything

I honestly can’t imagine what it must be like to be Stephen Hawking. To have one of the greatest minds throughout the history of the world but at the same time be severely disabled by a degenerative disorder that renders one’s muscular functions relatively useless, seems impossible to deal with, but somehow he’s done it for over 50 years. After watching a portrayal of his life in The Theory Of Everything, I’ve gained profound respect and compassion for Hawking, not because he’s a genius, but because he’s never given up.

The Theory Of Everything stars Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking and begins during Hawking’s latter college years at Cambridge when his health started to rapidly deteriorate. By the age of 21, after repeated bouts of spontaneous clumsiness and slurred speech, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given 2 years left to live. Redmayne does such an incredibly realistic job portraying what Hawking faced from this point forward in life that I found myself actually believing I was watching Hawking himself go through his terrible ordeal. But even through the depression he initially battled, as well as the incredible suffering and debilitation he endured, Hawking found true love in Jane Wilde, who’s played by Felicity Jones in the film. It becomes quite obvious to the viewer that Jane’s love of Stephen becomes one of the greatest positive forces to preventing him from ever giving up. As the rest of the movie goes on to painfully show Hawking become the deformed wheelchair figure he is today using that computerized voice to speak, I was clearly reminded how there’s always someone out there worse off than me. But regardless of his life’s tragic circumstances, Hawking has defied his doctor’s odds many times over. And not only did he find true love (twice), he also went on to parent three children, gain his doctorate, and garner many awards, honors, and achievements for his work in theoretical physics and cosmology.

But what I found most interesting from the movie and the research I did on Hawking afterwards is my discovery that he’s a proclaimed atheist. While I’m sure Hawking would say that the two loves of his life were guiding forces for many of those times when he wanted to give up, I’m inclined to believe that he has more spiritual beliefs than he realizes. The power of love is something I tend to think comes from something greater than all of us and not something we can just create. After all, if we were able to just create it whenever we wanted, we’d probably be falling in love a lot more often in life. Regardless, Hawking received this precious gift twice in life where each would keep him going when he most needed it. Whether he ever chooses to acknowledge the possibility that his true loves may have come from a Higher Presence or not I don’t know. Either way, Hawking is unquestionably one of the greatest minds that have ever lived. But more importantly, The Theory Of Everything cleared showed how his ability to transcend his unfortunate life circumstances and never given up is something that can be a spiritual inspiration for many, like it undoubtedly has been for me.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Breaking News!!!

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for the latest coverage on…” These were the words spoken by a news anchor on Fox recently just after the words “Breaking News” flashed before my eyes on my television screen. At the precise moment that transpired, I was also quite deeply enthralled in the latest episode of Sleepy Hollow. But for the next 10 to 15 minutes, my show was preempted to visual images of riots and violence in Ferguson, MO that had erupted all over again. The police officer that shot Michael Brown had not been indicted for his actions and people were retaliating. While my prayers have been going out regularly to all those in Ferguson, especially the family and friends of Michael Brown, I wondered why must everyone be subjected to seeing breaking news such as this?

Before I go any further though, I think it’s important to say that I don’t watch the news at all, on any given day, because I don’t like how it makes me feel when I do. It’s usually extremely gloomy, dreary, negative, and often biased. It also consistently paints the portrayal of a doomed society where everything seems to be falling apart. So while I may occasionally glance at USA Today’s headlines on the Internet to see if there is anything I can add to my daily prayers, I generally do what I can to steer clear of watching or reading the news anywhere. I should also add that television for me is nothing more than a temporary healthy escape to enjoy a number of science fiction and/or fantasy-based fictionalized shows. But when one or all of the major networks and many other channels start flashing the words “Breaking News” on my screen and then preempting whatever it is I’m watching, I’m left with only two choices: watch their coverage or turn my television off.

So when this latest wave of breaking news about the escalating violence in Ferguson occurred, I momentarily chose to remain tuned in to until I suddenly began to feel like I did during those dark days and weeks when I kept seeing images of the World Trade Towers crumbling down or the smoldering planes sitting in the side of the Pentagon and in that field in Pennsylvania. In other words, I didn’t feel good at all inside. With where I’m at in my spirituality today, I honestly don’t want to see things like this on my television screen, not one single bit. I don’t want to view any civil unrests or violent aggressions. I don’t want to look at bleak pictures of wars raging on or anything of the sort. And that’s not because I want to hide from it or pretend it’s not happening. I just choose to not spend any of my free time nowadays tuning into things that are only going to make me feel anger, rage, irritability, and many unwanted emotions that might warp my ability to be spiritual.

The bottom line is that I’m trying to live a total life of peace and serenity these days. That was virtually impossible for me to do so in years past when I continually subjected myself to the depressing imagery on the news, especially when those breaking reports came across my television set. I truly hope that someday technology will advance enough to give all of us the ability on our television screens to choose whether we want to tune into those breaking news reports or continue watching our shows. Until then, I prefer to just turn my set off and avoid any of them because I know in doing so, I’ll feel a whole heck of a lot better spiritually then if I didn’t.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson