Searching for God
03/07/12 05:35
I have no credentials as a physical scientist. I am a graduate of a Liberal Arts College. My undergraduate field of study was philosophy. My graduate education was in theology with a focus on Hebrew history and my doctorate is in practical theology with an emphasis in counseling. There are no physicists who come knocking at my door for advice. In fact, I’ve long suspected that people like me are probably the butt of more than a few jokes told by physicists at the end of the day after they have had a few drinks.
That might be the result of a somewhat inflated ego. Chances are that most physicists have no interest whatsoever in pastors and theologians. And there are plenty of pastors and theologians who are more distinguished and more well known than I.
Still, the work of theoretical physicists fascinates me. I think it is because it sounds, to a layman, a lot like theology. They advance theories about how the nature of the universe might be organized then they go looking for physical evidence to back up their theories. If they find evidence, they refine the theories to explain even a bit more. If they do not find evidence, they either modify the theory or come up with a more elaborate explanation for why the universe isn’t the way they initially described.
It was theoretical physics that gave us chaos theory. Well, I guess that isn’t quite right. Chaos theory is technically an area of mathematics that has applications in physics. According to chaos theory, small differences in initial conditions, such as rounding errors, yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible.
Mathematicians and physicists don’t exactly mean the same thing when they use the term “chaos” as the generally accepted definition. They don’t quite mean “a state of disorder.” They just mean “unpredictable.”
Physicists have other terms they use in ways that are distinct from the way I use them. I keep reading about the search for the “god particle.” They don’t mean what I mean when I use the term, “God.” In fact, I guess the term “god particle” isn’t really used by physicists. It is used by laypersons to describe what physicists are doing with the billions (yes billions) of dollars invested in some really big experiments.
Let me interrupt this with a disclaimer – when I try to explain physics it seems to sort of make sense to me, but it is only mildly amusing to real experts in the field, who see quickly that I really don’t understand their way of thinking.
When I was in elementary school, we learned that everything is made from molecules. Molecules are groups of atoms. Inside an atom is a nucleus surrounded by electrons. I think that is as far as we got in grade school. Somewhere later, I learned that inside the nucleus are protons and neurons. That was pretty much the state of the building blocks of the physical universe in my limited education.
Somewhere along the line I learned that protons and neurons are made out of quarks. There are different kinds of quarks – at least six: up and down, charm and strange, top and bottom. OK, I’m not making this up. They really talk that way. Up and down, even top and bottom sound like scientific distinctions, though the difference between up and top or down and bottom eludes me. But charm and strange are rather random terms to describe the fundamental building blocks of the universe, if you want my opinion. Of course the scientists do not want my opinion. So I really don’t understand this, except to say that I get it that there are different kinds of quarks.
Here is the thing. Quarks aren’t the only tiny particles that made up protons and neurons. There are also leptons and bosons.
Theoretical physicists love bosons. They come in different types as well. One of the types of bosons is called a gluon. Another boson has been called the Higgs Boson. Except no one can see a boson or a quark or a lepton. They just have a theory that they exist because if they do, they would have mass and the mass would imply a small gravitational flow and that might explain the movement of protons and neurons within the nucleus of an atom.
So someone started calling the Higgs Boson the “god particle.” The theory is that if they could prove the existence of the Higgs Boson they could explain why certain tiny movements within the nucleus of an atom are the way they are.
So, they got enough people interested in all of this to raise $4 billion to build the Large Hadron Collider and have 10,000 scientists working on experiments to prove or disprove the existence of the Higgs Boson. If this sounds a bit amazing to you, welcome to the club. I am astounded that so much money and so many people could be engaged in theoretical research of this type. One thing about it, physicists are better fund-raisers than theologians in our generation.
And there are people who think that church buildings are extravagant institutions.
Here is what I know. They might be able to prove or disprove the existence of the Higgs Boson particle. They won’t be able to explain everything in the universe. A comprehensive, all-encompassing theory that explains everything will elude scientists in our time and for millennia to come. The universe is far more complex than our powers of comprehension.
I also know that physics is as based in myth and story as is theology. They just happen to have different myths and stories.
One more thing that I know: there is no field of study that doesn’t lead towards wonder and awe. This amazing universe is the creative product of God who is grander, greater, and more amazing than we can imagine. That doesn’t keep us from trying to imagine. It doesn’t keep us from advancing our theories. It doesn’t keep us from trying to comprehend.
In the end, physicists and theologians are all engaged in the same quest for understanding. We use different language and advance different theories. But in the end we share the simple truth: “From God we have come. To God we return.” Of course that’s my language – the language of theology. I’m not sure how it goes in physics. Perhaps: “All is made of Higgs Boson, from the simplest element to the complexity of the universe.”
They don’t like to use the word, but they’re searching for God as much as I am.
That might be the result of a somewhat inflated ego. Chances are that most physicists have no interest whatsoever in pastors and theologians. And there are plenty of pastors and theologians who are more distinguished and more well known than I.
Still, the work of theoretical physicists fascinates me. I think it is because it sounds, to a layman, a lot like theology. They advance theories about how the nature of the universe might be organized then they go looking for physical evidence to back up their theories. If they find evidence, they refine the theories to explain even a bit more. If they do not find evidence, they either modify the theory or come up with a more elaborate explanation for why the universe isn’t the way they initially described.
It was theoretical physics that gave us chaos theory. Well, I guess that isn’t quite right. Chaos theory is technically an area of mathematics that has applications in physics. According to chaos theory, small differences in initial conditions, such as rounding errors, yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible.
Mathematicians and physicists don’t exactly mean the same thing when they use the term “chaos” as the generally accepted definition. They don’t quite mean “a state of disorder.” They just mean “unpredictable.”
Physicists have other terms they use in ways that are distinct from the way I use them. I keep reading about the search for the “god particle.” They don’t mean what I mean when I use the term, “God.” In fact, I guess the term “god particle” isn’t really used by physicists. It is used by laypersons to describe what physicists are doing with the billions (yes billions) of dollars invested in some really big experiments.
Let me interrupt this with a disclaimer – when I try to explain physics it seems to sort of make sense to me, but it is only mildly amusing to real experts in the field, who see quickly that I really don’t understand their way of thinking.
When I was in elementary school, we learned that everything is made from molecules. Molecules are groups of atoms. Inside an atom is a nucleus surrounded by electrons. I think that is as far as we got in grade school. Somewhere later, I learned that inside the nucleus are protons and neurons. That was pretty much the state of the building blocks of the physical universe in my limited education.
Somewhere along the line I learned that protons and neurons are made out of quarks. There are different kinds of quarks – at least six: up and down, charm and strange, top and bottom. OK, I’m not making this up. They really talk that way. Up and down, even top and bottom sound like scientific distinctions, though the difference between up and top or down and bottom eludes me. But charm and strange are rather random terms to describe the fundamental building blocks of the universe, if you want my opinion. Of course the scientists do not want my opinion. So I really don’t understand this, except to say that I get it that there are different kinds of quarks.
Here is the thing. Quarks aren’t the only tiny particles that made up protons and neurons. There are also leptons and bosons.
Theoretical physicists love bosons. They come in different types as well. One of the types of bosons is called a gluon. Another boson has been called the Higgs Boson. Except no one can see a boson or a quark or a lepton. They just have a theory that they exist because if they do, they would have mass and the mass would imply a small gravitational flow and that might explain the movement of protons and neurons within the nucleus of an atom.
So someone started calling the Higgs Boson the “god particle.” The theory is that if they could prove the existence of the Higgs Boson they could explain why certain tiny movements within the nucleus of an atom are the way they are.
So, they got enough people interested in all of this to raise $4 billion to build the Large Hadron Collider and have 10,000 scientists working on experiments to prove or disprove the existence of the Higgs Boson. If this sounds a bit amazing to you, welcome to the club. I am astounded that so much money and so many people could be engaged in theoretical research of this type. One thing about it, physicists are better fund-raisers than theologians in our generation.
And there are people who think that church buildings are extravagant institutions.
Here is what I know. They might be able to prove or disprove the existence of the Higgs Boson particle. They won’t be able to explain everything in the universe. A comprehensive, all-encompassing theory that explains everything will elude scientists in our time and for millennia to come. The universe is far more complex than our powers of comprehension.
I also know that physics is as based in myth and story as is theology. They just happen to have different myths and stories.
One more thing that I know: there is no field of study that doesn’t lead towards wonder and awe. This amazing universe is the creative product of God who is grander, greater, and more amazing than we can imagine. That doesn’t keep us from trying to imagine. It doesn’t keep us from advancing our theories. It doesn’t keep us from trying to comprehend.
In the end, physicists and theologians are all engaged in the same quest for understanding. We use different language and advance different theories. But in the end we share the simple truth: “From God we have come. To God we return.” Of course that’s my language – the language of theology. I’m not sure how it goes in physics. Perhaps: “All is made of Higgs Boson, from the simplest element to the complexity of the universe.”
They don’t like to use the word, but they’re searching for God as much as I am.