Nov 11, 2018

Quantum Physics: the ‘Spooky’ Side of Physics

 

When I talk about the work of God in our universe, the operation of the very small (sub-atomic level) is indeed mystifying. That area of physics has proven amenable to mathematical exploration that hints at very strange operations, and predicts certain results that have since been seen in experiments (especially in the colliders that have been built over the decades), but the meaning of the results have been hotly debated. This area of the universe, named Quantum Physics from the basic fact that everything has a smallest size, or “quanta”, and cannot be reduced to anything smaller. Why do electrons only travel in specific distances from the nucleus, and change orbits at speeds faster than the speed of light? How can there be entanglement between two particles that were split from a single particle where if you change the spin on one the spin of the other will also change at speeds faster than the speed of light, no matter how far they are separated? Many unanswerable questions such as these engulf the world of physics, and I find these questions raise the possibility of there being a force larger than anything we can conceive, that one could call God.

I consider myself something of a scientist, even though my degree is in engineering. I have read many, many books about the universe, as I read interesting things to relax rather than watch TV or similar things. I would rather read than do almost anything else in my “take-down” time in the evening, and I find the mysteries of the universe to be the most engaging unknown level of information possible, with the possible exception of learning about the mysteries of God. I have, over the years, tied my faith and my study of the universe into a single belief pattern, these form the crux of all I believe.

The heart of quantum physics is the mystery of what the universe is in truth. Einstein showed that matter and energy can be interchanged, and quantum physics took that concept a little further, in that everything appears to be only energy, and the notion of matter is caused by the strong bonds of the energy fields involved. Since our interaction with those energy bonds is only at a rather course level, we see solids when in truth there is only energy clouds, appearing for very short periods of time, disappearing, then appearing again slightly changed. Thus the name ‘quanta’, as the energy is only in certain quanta forms, changing in quanta periods of time (Planck time, 10[-43] second).

But how is this tied into my belief of God, and especially into the personal God of Christianity who isthe caring nature called Love? This is where my personal faith and experience appears. I believe strongly that the energy fields that make up the physical universe is the physical side of Love, or what Franciscan Mystic Richard Rohr is calling the Cosmic Christ. Since everything in the universe is part of the one energy field, everything is one in the field of the Cosmic Christ. That is, there is only one thing: the Christ, or Energy in the world of physics. The phrases used in John’s Gospel states it well: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through the Word all things were made, without the Word nothing was made that has been made. In the Word was life, and that life was the light of all humanity.” (John 1). We have all kinds of descriptions of what the physical properties of everything is, and the mind-boggling math of quantum physics points to only one thing: all physical properties are combinations of energy forces, and all that we think we see is an illusion generated by our minds to bring coherence to our world. (See the Copenhagen Agreement, made by the leading quantum physicists at a conference in Copenhagen in 1929.) Nothing that has happened since the Copenhagen agreement was reached has changed notably since that time, even though several alternative thinking of the equations have been presented over the 100 years since the original conference. The majority of physicists still follow the Copenhagen agreement.

But how does Love fit into this seemingly benign explanation? To me, that energy field we call the universe that contains all that exists is the field of Love, expressed. What beauty is to be seen in the swirls and breadth we see around us, spread as far as the eye can see, down through 13.7 billion years of trails. That field has lovingly created all the stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters, star dust, black holes, magnetic dances that are breathtaking (see all the photographs taken by the Hubble telescope, translated into visible spectra.)

And then it created us, a conscious being that can look at all of creation and see the beauty of God made manifest. I sometimes have tears of joy running down my face at the wonders that have been shared with us, culminating in the breathtaking beauty of my children and their children.

Indeed, the title of my book states it clearly: “The 12 Steps to Joy and Happiness, finding the “Kingdom of God that lies within” (Luke 17:21)”

Yes, God is good, and not only created beauty out of God’s own ‘flesh’, but created us to enjoy and weep at the Love that is all that is – including ourselves.

Meditation

Oh Wonder of Wonders, You have shared Your beauty with us in glorious splendor. I have spent a lifetime swimming in the glory of Your Love, often engulfing me in glory that cannot be described in words, but only feeling. These poor words that attempt to portray the wonders of Your being are poor indeed. For the greatest glory has been in Your gift of awareness, when we are free to love other wonderous beings, and bathe in the glory of Light that fills the soul. Only when we are aware of the vibrancy of Your presence in all that is can we begin to taste what possibilities are there just for our taking. I rest in all that is, looking joyfully at life at its fullest.