In this article we’ll continue our discussion about Religion and Science. The UTS recently published Reflections on Unificationism, with an entire section devoted to this subject. Check it out!
The Principle states that traditional beliefs cannot satisfy today’s rational minds, and that the prophesied New Truth must address this concern. It also implies that, for science itself to be fulfilled, scientific theories must include the spiritual world. Much has been done about the former, and as to the latter, more progress has been made than most people realize.
There are at least two ways to learn about the spiritual world. A gifted few know it by direct experience. Others attempt to understand it through careful research.
Many accounts have been published. All have common threads, yet vary widely in the details. Unfortunately for our purposes, virtually all of them lack precision.
History
Let’s begin our quest with a brief review of the history of Physics.
Isaac Newton wrote of a precise, "clockwork" universe. To the regret of every High School student since, he invented calculus to describe the motion of the planets. Beholding the grand order of creation, he reaffirmed his faith in God.
Centuries later, Einstein formulated the Theory of Relativity, with its curved space-time. Rejecting some troubling implications, he asked, "Does God play dice with the universe?"
Next, Heisenberg published his Uncertainty Principle. The idea of complete precision went out the window! Reality turns out to be "fuzzy," and often unpredictable.
Atomic particles have be made to "tunnel," appearing beyond fixed barriers without ever having passed through them.
Mind-bending thought experiments such as "Schroediger’s Cat" were posited; this involves a quantum state in which the unlucky cat gets to be both alive and dead, at the same time!
All subatomic particles, and energy itself, are known to be manifestations of "fields"; patterns which underlie all existence, and are shaped by the laws of universe. These "fields and vectors" can only be described using the difficult, higher mathematics of "complex numbers."
If the reader thinks this is too strange, it gets worse. The now-classic "two slot experiment" directly involves the observer. In its simplest form, just watching the experiment -or not- causes it to have a totally different result! This is called a "quantum superposition waveform collapse," which occurs as potentials sort themselves into reality.
In light of these astonishing findings, the idea of a nearby, yet unseen spiritual world appears a lot a more plausible. Sooner or later, theories will be formulated to explain it clearly. (Keep in mind that the line, "My breakthrough ideas were rejected by that old-fogy establishment," has been used to introduce all sorts of quackery.)
Analysis
As commonly described, the spiritual world is different in several ways.
No unbeatable "gravity field" anchors its inhabitants in place. As in dreams, one can easily take flight!
No "transmission" (of energy or information) problems interfere with the movement or creation of objects. Spirit people can obtain any item they desire, and fast!
No "lightspeed barrier" prevents them from crossing its vastness in an instant.
No "entropy" decays that world’s beauty or hampers its smooth functioning. (At least in the "higher realms"; apparently, the lower you go the worse off the inhabitants are.) In fact, its "patterns" are so stable that spirit people are immortal.
There are two main schools of thought about what makes the World Beyond so different. They are only simple kernels of greater ideas to come.
The first and most popular states that the spirit world has a "higher frequency." Perhaps in a literal, linear sense. All energy, such as light’s constituent photons, has distinct wavelengths.
Thus, seeing that world becomes a simple matter of "paying attention," and attuning our senses. Technologically, there many be ways of "stepping down" its frequencies, and viewing it with a constructed device.
The second school involves four-spatial-dimensionality; the arcane, geometric world of tesseracts and hyperspheres. To illustrate 0-4 dimensions, think: point, line, square, cube, tesseract. (Give it five or even more dimensions, to include time and the "expanding universe.")
Placing the spirit world at a dimensional remove would explain its closeness to -and yet, unbridgeable distance from- the physical realm. Also, its invisibility to ordinary means of detection. The only connection is through our minds and, perhaps, elements of our living bodies.
Hell cannot simply be "beneath" Heaven. Presumably, Heavenly lakes have fish on their bottoms, not demons! Deepest Hell is said to be totally dark; no Heaven shines in its skies. Not to mention the multiple layers in between. Earthly "up and down" are not enough to explain this multiplicity of vast, complete realms.
There are various, and individually varying, "sizes" of spirits. The human body has trillions of cells, and (according to Daemonim) it can be "covered" by thousands of spirits. Such spirits can even inhabit our tiny, individual cells! They can also "expand" upon leaving the body.
How can this be? A four-dimensional being will alter in size as it moves, for it only intersects with our three-dee world along one section of its "body." This is similar to a three-dee object crossing a two-dee plane. The area of its intersection changes as it moves through, and a watching two-dee being would not be able to "see" the entire object.
This four-dee concept is well-illustrated in two books, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott, and its sequel, Sphereland: A Fantasy About Curved Spaces and an Expanding Universe by Dionys Burger.
C. S. Lewis wrote of Heaven being very much "larger" than Hell, and of spirits "expanding" as they were conveyed upwards from one realm to the next.
Thus, angels might well be personal "conductors" between the spiritual levels. Hence the difficulty of ordinary spirits "returning to Earth" without a specific role and/or mission. Once returned (or never having left), they would be "in the Earth plane," a hair’s-breadth away from us, if only for a while.
Mind
There are four major "forces" in nature, gravity being the most familiar. Physics has now reduced these to invariant laws and a matrix of "fields." These fields are invisible to us mortals, and except to a handful of geniuses, almost inconceivable.
Common human experience posits a fifth, "spiritual" force. (This author once received an impressive dose of it, whatever it is, at Chung Pyung Lake.)
Such experiences are no longer "merely" subjective, as doctors are now learning that prayer does speed healing. It works even when the supplicants and patients are totally separated, within a clinical "double blind" experiment!
On another front, scientists are seeking a Theory of Consciousness. Roger Penrose, in his book Shadows of the Mind, shows that no computer could ever duplicate the feats of the brain. This devastates the mechanistic concepts of most biologists and programmers.
C. S. Lewis, in his Miracles, logically shows that the mind must be "supernatural," in and of itself.
Conclusion
Clearly, the "focus" of the mind shifts upon death (or during an out-of-body experience). Perhaps our consciousness is a "nexus" of spiritual energy, just as our bodies are patterns of physical matter. The human mind reaches into, and shifts between, both worlds.
Artificial connections to the spirit world will be difficult to construct. There are people who have been charged with the attempt.
Our own Richard Lewis points out that the "New Physics" does not uphold Eastern beliefs, as Fritjof Capra and others have insisted. In fact, Physics upholds monotheism in general, and the Principle in particular.
Spiritual energies are under conscious control. Not just spirit beings themselves, but every part of that world, at all times. It’s almost like some popularly-depicted "cartoon country." Which, considering the seat of "imagination" itself, might not be a coincidence.
Spiritual "fields" are very much alive! They are more fluid than dreams, for we can directly shape them to our will, down to the smallest detail. Thus, the spirit world is extremely difficult to "pin down" scientifically. On any given day, its components might not want to be experimental subjects!
Within that world, God, Satan, angels, spirits and providential figures interact and "make deals," and the Principle is their only law. That law is even more binding than human laws. It reflects directly upon our own morality, and the results of our upholding it-or not.
Some have posited that there is no "spiritual speed limit"; that the next world is infinitely fast. However, infinite velocity is the functional equivalent of omnipresence, for one would intersect with the entirety of the Cosmos before stopping anywhere. Also, reaching an infinite velocity requires infinite energy, which equals omnipotence.
A spirit could traverse billions of light years in the blink of an eye without even approaching such infinite limits. God stands above all realms; He alone is omnipresent and omnipotent.
Rumor has it that Dr. Sang Hun Lee is now revealing more from "the other side," and with great precision. Details are eagerly awaited!