"Dark" or Unseen Matter and Energy

My last essay - Is Reality Really Real, or Is It All in Your Head? included an image of Albert Einstein with the quote - "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." He was referring to the idea that what we in the modern age have been trained to consider as "reality" is the material universe that we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell, but all of that is just a tiny portion of what's really real.

Add to these five senses the instrumentation of detecting electromagnetic and atomic radiation that we have on earth and can launch into or with which we can peer into deep space, and we seem to be able to detect and measure the contents of the whole universe. Astronomers and physicists have determined that the universe is about 13.5 billion years old and that it is expanding at an ever greater rate of speed.

But in all these explorations we've come across clues of something "out there" that we can't detect or measure, all we can observe is its effect on the known universe. Scientists often call this "something" dark matter and energy, and as the illustration here points out, dark matter according to their estimates makes up about 23% and dark energy makes up about 73% of the universe, for a total of 96% of everything that exists. This leaves just 4% of the universe as what we call "material reality" - what we can observe with our five senses and all our scientific instrumentation and mathematical calculations.

A French researcher has called this unknowable matter and energy "unseen" or "invisible" rather than using the word "dark" which can imply a negative or evil connotation to this unknowable stuff. Could this be what causes some plants to develop structures that follow precise mathematical patterns and what enables birds to migrate along routes they have never flown before? A strictly materialist universe governed only by random chance could never produce the structured complexity we see all around us. Lisa Randall, Professor of Science at Harvard University, is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist who thinks that unseen matter and energy could actually harbor forms of intelligent life far beyond our abilities to comprehend.

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This is consistent with what we read in Hebrews 11:3 - "By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the Word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible." The unseen, invisible force in the universe, the Word of God, is the creator of the visible universe. This Word of God is the Logos, the logic or informational patterning in the universe, as St. Paul wrote - "For by Him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things are held together" (Colossians 1:16-17).

So the ancient theologians were right: the Logos is both transcendent (above and beyond the universe) and immanent (interpenetrating everything that exists in the material universe), or as they said - "He is everywhere present and fills all things." The Apostle John wrote - "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it" John 1:1-5).
But not only the Logos exists before all things, Who is the Light that enlightens all mankind, that divine spark that differentiates humans from lower animals. There are also dark forces "out there," as St. Paul wrote - "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).

We are involved in a cosmic battle in a realm that our material senses cannot comprehend. There are spiritual forces all around us, angels and demons, who are fighting for control over our minds and spirits, as St. Paul explained - "For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

If we allow ourselves to be taken captive by the spirit of this age, we'll come out as losers in this great cosmic battle. Living just for material wealth, ease and pleasure is a losing proposition. If, however, we give ourselves to serving Christ, we will be on the winning side: the darkness will not overcome the Light!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 24 Sep. 2017.)

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