Found myself thinking about Rich Watson's latest discussion of the quantum theory used in the Myst series. I used to read and discuss quantum theory with a few people, but I questioned it. This pretty much ended the discussions as the others I tried to discuss it with tended to simply repeat the books they'd read & urge me to read or reread them as I 'obviously didn't get it.' I won't claim I have a solid grasp of quantum theory, but 'read the books until you agree with them' strikes me as a stultifying frame of mind in any case.
For example: I do not believe the ever luckless cat of Herr Schrodinger is 'either alive or dead.' It IS alive or dead & I don't know which way it is until I can look. It seems to me the theory is claiming that the probability for either state remains until *I* find out. I don't think so. God already knows.
Many things in this life manage to be what they are without my knowledge, or indeed, anyone's knowledge but God & His angels. After thinking about it a bit, I came to the conclusion that God would, must be, the Great Observer who collapses 'probability waves' in some direction or other every moment. It may be that the Creator's title of Omniscience is a greater matter than we had realized, as we usual regard knowledge as a passive posession (until applied) instead of an active power. Perhaps omniscience means not just that He knows what is now & has been, but what probability waves will collapse in what direction in the future. & that He has ultimate charge over this as all other things. He may even give Himself the freedom to interfere occasionally with the usual flow ~ arranging such 'collapses' in such a way as to include spontaneous healings & strange conversions of ~ say ~ water into wine ..or... rocks into food. Its an extremely UNLIKELY event that a boulder would suddenly be a big loaf of pumpernickel, but perhaps possible in some rare universe matter might randomly turn into bread & in an even rarer time/space event, one of these out-sized loaves could suddenly exchange places with the boulder in our continuum. [No, I'm NOT saying God necessarily does His miracles this way. I'm just playing around with improbable ideas. That other 'universe' (area) probably just has angel that loves to bake. 8-) ]
When reading Gibbon's book, I was struck by the secularist presumptions that laid the groundwork for the 'shocking' conclusions about time & matter they came to believe~ The corporate reactivity of atoms, for example, is unsurprising if you believe that the entire universe lives & loves and has its being in God. Once again, worldview shapes acceptable theory both for believers and non-believers. Theirs deliberately excluded a God and so they have to put up a fantastic framework to explain effects otherwise easily explained by His Presence. An advanced theologic argument I read years ago stated (based purely on scriptural refs) that it seemed that God only has to withdraw his presence/support from anything in order to destroy it. It seems to me that the experiments I read about support this view. An undercurrent, a fabric, shapes reality. We are all a part of it, a dependent subset of that function or that being, depending on your point of view. It occurs to me that pantheists wouldnt be surprised by those results either, though they might wonder if it was the Earth's or the Universe's 'essence' that was being picked up on.
From a Christian perspective, it makes good sense to me that, being His creations, surviving within a framework upheld by His power, we are dependent on our Creator for our every moment of existence. If this is the case, it also explains why turning our backs on God and trying to live 'our own' lives consitutes deadly sin (which is what some scriptures plainly say), even before the rebellious works that generally follow this choice. Every moment we draw breath by God's grace. Every moment our atoms find order within His designs. We literally cannot live without Him, and it is horribly ungrateful of us to try. He doesn't have to go out of His way to punish us for it either (in this theoretical construct). It would be inherent in the choice. We would become less in the process of turning away from what sustains us, eventually even less 'real.' I think this is the sort of thing C.S. Lewis had in mind when he described the dwindling grayness that was hell in The Great Divorce. What a shock it was at the end to find out how small & ghostly the whole dreary complex was compared with heaven!
well, time's up. Best go cook a little something ;)
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