quantum theory

driving through  a  starlit night, listening to a lecture on the radio, i found myself shot through with shivers.

the speaker was describing quantum theory, and describing it in a way that wasn't entirely (although still somewhat) over my head.  describing it in simple enough terms that i could follow, and with a mastery of english that made listening a pleasure.  yes, even to that convoluted and dusty thing, theory.

i hesitate to retell what i understood, because his lecture was brilliant, and my recollection is sure to be faulty and vague.

however, i'm going to try to share a bit of what struck me so deliciously.  forgive me for my clunky understanding.

when scientists were just beginning to understand the structure of atoms, electrons gave them pause.  because whenever they were detected they behaved like particles - measurable entities, single units.  but they way they behaved as they interacted with the world?  not a single unit at all, but a multiplicity - a wave that seeks out multiple possible actions and paths.

both a single unit, and a multiplicity.  that's what gripped my heart in bliss.

this articulate scientist wasn't just breaking down quantum theory - he was describing God.

the way we detect Him?  as a single unit, one person (Father, Son, Spirit) at a time.
the way He behaves as He interacts with the universe?  as a multiplicity, unbound.

the character of God trembles in electrons and physicists explore His fingerprint and we don't even know the aching billions of ways He has hidden Himself right before our eyes.


check out these mind-blowing excerpts from an interview with the speaker - neil turok - in a recent article about his lecture and book.

'Einstein and his colleagues were struggling to come to terms with evidence that nature is surreal, he writes.

Deep down, its basic constituents “don’t behave like particles or billiard balls or masses sliding down planes, or weights on springs or clouds or rivers or waves or anything anyone has ever seen in everyday life.”

...

“The world is not made up of particles and waves and beams of light with a definite existence. Instead, the world works in a much more exploratory way. It is aware of all the possibilities at once and trying them out all the time. That is a hard thing to picture.”'

doesn't it just echo deep, that word aware?

All things received being through him, and without him not one thing received being which has received being.  -John 1:3 (DBT)

the whole universe flares with the fullness of Him.