You know more than you think. We often talk about natural law being the laws of physics and the laws of God.

Let’s take a trip to show what your grandmother and grandfather taught you was all that you need to know. These carry you through relationships, science, philosophy, and religion. They are the basis of your livelihood and living the good life.

There are only three fundamental principles. I first encountered them wrapped in a concise package as the Laws of Thermodynamics. Now who has studied the arcane science of thermo? Very few. Physicists, mechanical engineers, and a few broadly educated are the ones with the formal knowledge.

But your grandfather invoked the three laws often. He just did not call them that. The preacher at church pontificated about them, but likely has never heard of thermodynamics and marginally knows about natural law. Your science teacher talked about Newton’s Laws, but never wrote thermo on the board.

My career went from corporate, military, corporate, academia, and entrepreneur. To address my mid-life crisis, I went back to university and finished my first Ph.D. degree, left corporate and started a company, bought a very nice airplane and a new car in the same month, and was recruited as a university Professor with the understanding I would continue with our company. You thought you went off the deep-end. Male mid-life crisis is real. You wonder, is this all there is? Then, set out to prove yourself, again.

As a new professor, I began a long quest to correlate my science with my religion, which eventually lead to a second Ph.D. in theology. In the quest, it became apparent that only three fundamental laws control all of science and engineering, those same three laws from thermodynamics, but stated in different forms.

Correlating the science and theology lead to an intense study of nature and nature’s law, which lead to President Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and radical philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Contrary to popular opinion and what you have likely read about them, these were all devout Christians. But they were mavericks pursuing understanding, challenging traditions, and rejecting the state church. Consequently, this led to a surface misunderstanding of their philosophy by less erudite writers outside their thinking. Have you read the books? Read their writings, not what others say about them.

From the science side, the laws of thermodynamics (physics) are just laws of nature. From the religion side, the laws of God are the laws of nature. Therefore, the laws of thermodynamics are necessarily the laws of God. My thermodynamics professor would agree, since he was also my Sunday school teacher.

What did grandpa say? “There ain’t no free lunch.” In other words, you cannot get something for nothing. Someone must pay. Grandma said “Tit for tat.” The preacher said “Do to others what you want them to do to you.” The judicial system said “An eye for and eye.” The science teacher said “For every action there is an equal reaction.” Bubba says, “What goes around, comes around.” Our scientist son-in-law is a failure analyst who simply says “First Law.” The First Law of thermodynamics says “The sum of the energy in a system, without outside influence, is zero.” Every transaction is a trade-off.

They all say precisely the same thing, just in different words. You will say the same thing in different words. They are words to live by.

What is the Second Law? “In every change, a little energy is lost.” In physics, each energy conversion loses energy to heat. The simplest is the best solution. Stuff runs downhill. In history, it is well established that the human species loses knowledge in each generation. Technology may increase, but broad knowledge deteriorates. Who can live off the land or build pyramids, now?

The Third Law says, “The end result is zero.” All activity will stop. Everything dies. In the long term the survival rate of everyone drops to zero. Without positive feedback comes decay and demise to destruction.

Rather than pessimistic, look at the positive side. Back to the First Law, note the phrase ‘without outside influence.’ The entire process takes on a different significance with outside energy interjected.

It is real. Science, theology (religion), and philosophy (politics) are inseparable. The only difference is the words or terminology used to describe what is going on. History is not for history’s sake. It tells a story.

Think about it. You have the innate knowledge about life. The swallows do not go to school, but know how to fly and catch bugs. People know the difference between right and wrong. Doing it is the problem.