Here I discuss the universe assuming an absolute reference frame existing only in mind.

Physicists claim that the speed of light is constant for all observers, that space is curved, that time appears to slow/speed for an object moving away/toward an observer at rest, and that time flows faster in a gravitational field for an observer outside. Fascinating stuff!!! These ideas can be easily derived by pure thought alone; but most of us never did.

Before we go further, I would urge the reader, to assume that the universe (or god, if you believe in that) is understandable and that we have the ability to understand it. This is essential when dealing with any issue if one wants to think; if one wants to “believe” and is eager to confer super-powers on a god who can “never be derived by mere humans”; this is not the place for you. I assume that if god designed me (if s/he did) with enough intelligence to question, s/he provided the needed intelligence and information to answer. My god doesn’t demand belief; s/he doesn’t “reveal” knowledge, s/he demonstrates it.

When we see a star in the night sky, we are seeing light that traveled many years. The nearest star (besides the sun) Proxima Centuari is 4.24 (say 4) light years away. That is, we are seeing Proxima Centuari as it was 4 years ago. We are seeing its past. We can never know its present unless we travel to it in space. If we travel to Proxima Centuari at the speed of light we will reach there in 4 years. Assuming that a clock shows us the year on the star and we set the year, say 1996 on our wrist-watch. When we reach there our watch will show 2000, because we had 4 years of travel. The Proxima clock will show 2004 because when we started the clock on earth, the light that reached us from the star was four years old; that is when we started on earth the year at Proxima was 2000. If we observe a civilization on Proxima while traveling, we will see them do everything twice as fast as what we are doing on our spaceship. We observe 8 years of their life in our 4.

Imagine you are an observer sitting on Proxima. What would you observe? The light from the earth reaches you in 4 years. As we saw in previous paragraph, the Proxima year when the spaceship started at earth is 2000; it will be 2004 when the light from spaceship reaches Proxima. So the image and the ship both reach the star at the same time. That is, you on Proxima will only see the ship when it reaches you (2004). For you, the ship appeared out of nowhere suddenly. Its time of travel is zero for you. Time stood still!!!

One way of looking at this is that when you travel toward an object, you are traveling from its past to its present, while you are always in your present. So you will always see more time passing for the object you are going toward. The equivalent situation is “the rate at which time flows at an object for an observer is proportional to light speed (absolute)”. This is why time flows faster in a gravitational field; because light is speeded up (seen from absolute reference frame) by gravity. 

Light is not different from everyday objects. It accelerates due to gravity; it’s relative velocity increases/decreases (seen from absolute reference frame). However, because it dictates the rate of our consciousness (in the universe) we don't perceive these. When light speed increases – it covers more distance, but we perceive more time. The light speed is always, thus, measured constant.

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Disclaimer: I am not a physicist. I am a civil/environmental engineer. This is what I think now; I can be wrong in this (or any other) post and am open to correction.

I will be making most of my points in a reference frame assuming all of us outside the universe. We observe the universe and know everything instantly; we are not limited by the speed of light to know any information. In short, we are god. This reference frame can only exist in the mind as it is outside the universe. I will also point to observations in the universe to visualize observations in the universe.

This is intended as a beginning to some discussions and a series discussing similar concepts. Rajamohan first asked me to write on such questions. It was, however, very difficult to express this stuff; so abandoned it. But since Nandita asked me, I thought I will go ahead and write it to the best of my current abilities :). In future, I think it will be impossible to talk these without illustrations.