When I wrote about how God exists and is a person, my aim was to present some classic and new arguments to disprove the theologies behind the ancient pantheistic religions – Hinduism, Taoism – as well as several quasi-religious belief systems, and many primitive spiritual worldviews. God is not “part of” or “pervading” everything in the universe, as poetically right as that may sound. God stands apart from the universe, and caused the universe to exist.
However, many philosophers and theologians who hold different worldviews and faiths still acknowledge that there is something right and sound in most other religions, including the pantheistic ones. A convinced Christian can, for example, believe that God has and is doing his work “under cover” on the Indian subcontinent by influencing good works to be done, injecting into the hearts of men and women the same instinct to repent from sins and seek forgiveness, and to struggle to offer forgiveness to others – all things that are at the core of the Christian faith. In other words, non-Christians can be influenced toward Christian ideals, even if such persons never heard the gospel. These are spiritual examples of how the pantheistic faiths can have something true and sound in them.
To add to this, there is one recent and exciting scientific development that provides some evidence for the truth of the pantheistic idea. It is the field of the study of quantum physics.
The Quantum Realm
In the popular Marvel movie “Ant Man”, the “Quantum Realm” is the realm of sub-atomic particles which Scott Lang (the Ant Man) gets lost in when he shrinks himself to near-infinitesimal size. Its a bizarre world where matter just doesn’t behave normally, and our classical understanding of physics is useless. This fiction is borrowed straight from the actually bizarre scientific field of quantum physics.
The stunning discoveries of quantum physics center around the idea of entanglement.
At the deep sub-atomical level of existence – where “wave functions” describe the physical properties of particles – the boundary between the blueprint of existence and existence itself is fuzzy. Its just bizarre to contemplate, but experiments have now proven that before a measurement or any observation is made of these tiny particles (quarks, muons, etc.), they can exist in multiple possible states as information only – or blueprints.
These particles and their pre-observed states (their blueprint/informational forms) can also be far apart physically. Such particles are “entangled”. They’re kinda the same particle, kinda different. But – and this is the spooky thing – when empirically observed and measured by instruments, these entangled pairs of particles instantaneously collapse into one.
Think about that.
An observation of the physical realm by a conscious mind literally causes matter to be instantiated. Before such observation, matter is simply a contingent set of information with various possibilities or potentialities. Just a “blueprint” or formula (the “wave function”).
Spooky, eh? Einstein even called this particular entanglement phenomenon “Spooky action at a distance” (well, someone else added the adjective later).
I will fast forward past all the ancillary points and counterpoints regarding this whole theory. But the implications are astounding, and it is beginning to rock the scientific and philosophical world. Material existence is contingent on consciousness, and emerges from it.
But the universe sure does seem to be regular and predictable! Are we to believe that unless a human person with a mind – still the only type of conscious agent that we all know exists – observes the matter in this world, that it all falls back into some spooky quantum state with multiple simultaneous possibilities? Until another person turns his gaze upon it, and it becomes something else? Why is my house still standing here in the same shape it was in when I left it this morning. Why don’t I find a black hole when I come back to see it tonight?
The short answer that some quantum theorists have at this point is: there is a universal consciousness that constantly observes the universe, causing it to emerge and materialize.
Spooky Correlation with God
With this new evidence, many ancient scriptures make better sense:
“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.“
Christian New Testament, Colossians 1:17
“The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.“
Hebrew Bible / Christian Old Testament, Job 33:4
“Let us therefore believe that God works constantly, so that all created things would perish, if his working were withdrawn.“
Christian New Testament, John 5:17
“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me. Indeed, it is Allah who is the [continual] Provider, the firm possessor of strength“
Quran, Adh-Dhariyat:56-58
”Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
Christian New Testament, Luke 12:6-8
“He is indivisible, yet He appears to be divided amongst living beings. Know the Supreme Entity to be the Sustainer, Annihilator, and Creator of all beings.“
Bhagavad Gita 13.17
The last Hindu scripture is most striking, and calls to mind that pantheistic faiths like Hinduism are centered around the belief in an all-pervading god/life-force within and identical to the universe itself. “Sustaining” is precisely the concept that describes how a pantheistic god would have to act in the world. And perhaps not coincidentally, the concept of “sustaining” also constantly crops up in the monotheistic faiths of Christianity, Judaism & Islam.
What the quantum model of the universe is starting to tell us is that existence itself – here and everywhere in the universe – hinges on the constant and unending observational power of a conscious mind.
Our puny human minds are clearly inadequate to “sustain” in existence anything but the simplest particle configurations which we measure in the physics laboratory.
But the universe? That takes an omnipresent deity to observe. God is watching us. He is watching everything. He indeed knows the name of every hair on your head, the position of every atom, electron & proton – the course of every photon and neutrino as it races through space. The universe would disassemble if He wasn’t watching it. To be fair, it isn’t the science making this final philosophical claim. Its me – and many other believers. Look up any discussion online on “observer effect” and “spirituality” and “consciousness” and see how hotly this is debated, and how revolutionary its starting to be regarded in the clashing world of science & theology.
So – in this way the pantheistic concept of “a deity in every atom” actually has some truth to it.
I love this. I am not formally, or nearly as versed in Quantum Physics, nor Theology as you. But… I read a lot. This made me think. Moreover, this made me think, you’re right. Enlightening. I love this. I’m very happy to of read this.
Nice Matt – thanks for the feedback!