I am not a
scientist. I cannot personally vouch for the “findings” of science. Therefore,
this proof is very tentative and based upon a consensus regarding
the quantum world. The proof goes like this:
PREMISE #1: The universe is not fundamentally
material but mind-dependent.
PREMISE #2: The human mind cannot
account for the stability of the universe.
CONCLUSION: Therefore,
there must be a greater Mind—God!
PREMISE #1: The universe is not
fundamentally material but
mind-dependent.
Many now question
whether the physical world is comprised of tiny particles, as was once
widely believed. Arjun Walia, known for his work on the
documentary, The Collective Evolution
III: The Shift (2014), observes:
·
Quantum physicists discovered that
physical atoms are made up of vortices of energy that are constantly spinning
and vibrating, each one radiating its own unique energy signature…Again, what
quantum mechanics reveals is that there is no true “physicality” in
the universe, that atoms are made of focused vorticies of
energy-miniature tornadoes that are constantly popping into and out of
existence. The revelation that the universe is not an assembly of
physical parts, suggested by Newtonian physics, and instead comes from a
holistic entanglement of immaterial energy waves stems from the work of Albert
Einstein, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg, among others.1
Others
suggest that unstable energy must be underpinned by something that is more
stable, which might help us to account for the stability, predictability, and
order of the material world – something like solid building blocks or at least
particles. However, such things are now in question.
PREMISE #2: The human mind cannot account for stability
of the universe.
Perhaps the
basic building blocks of this physical world are thoughts. This idea,
at least on the micro level, seems to be widely accepted among quantum
physicists:
·
A fundamental conclusion of the new
physics also acknowledges that the observer creates the reality. As observers,
we are personally involved with the creation of our own reality. Physicists are
being forced to admit that the universe is a “mental” construction. Pioneering
physicist Sir James Jeans wrote: “The stream of knowledge is heading toward a
non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great
thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental
intruder into the realm of matter; we ought rather hail it as the
creator and governor of the realm of matter.”2
James M.
Kushiner also affirms that:
·
Every prediction quantum theory makes
has been tested with consistent results... A photon, for example, may be either
a wave or a particle state, but which it appears to be depends on a choice made
by the observer...Some scientists like John Wheeler...have reached tentative
conclusions:
“Useful as it is under everyday
circumstances to say that the world exists ‘out there’ independent of us, that view cannot
longer be upheld. There is a strange sense
in which this is a ‘participatory universe.’"3
While we might
be participants, there must be a major Player! If the human mind is able
to impact external reality, there clearly seem to be severe limitations in
place. For example, we do not seem to be able to impact gravity, the expansion
of the universe, or the laws of physics. I can’t even get my wife to think like
me! Certain realities of this universe seem to be universal and immutable and
impervious to our thinking. The seven billion inhabitants of the
Earth tend to think about the universe in a multiplicity of very different
ways. Yet the universe continues to move forward in a harmonious and
predictable manner.
Any doubt
about this should be dispelled when we consider the fact that the laws of
physics pre-dated our own existence. Our thinking, therefore, cannot
account for them.
Therefore,
if the universe is mind-dependent, there must exist a greater Mind
than ours—omnipotent and unchanging—which can account for the order and
stability of the cosmos.
Mathematical
verities are also mind dependent.
If this is
true, then this also serves to bolster the above case.
Consider the
number 1. It is a concept, an idea. We don’t find the number 1 or
2001 in nature apart from our own conceptualizations of it.
If this is
true about the number 1, it is also true about the numbers 2, 3, 4…And, it must
also be true about higher level mathematical constructs, like the Pythagorean
Theorem. Through this construct, we are always able to determine the length of
the longest side of a right-angle triangle by squaring the two other sides,
adding this figure and then determining its square root. Amazingly, this answer
is exactly what we find when we actually measure a right angle triangle.
However, we
didn’t create this Theorem—we discovered it! Although this
mathematical theorem is distinct from the material world, it seems to
understand the material world and to tell us so much about it.
Likewise,
the angles of every triangle contain exactly and invariably, 180 degrees. If
you were to add a fourth line or side to the triangle, this four-sided figure
would contain angles equaling 180 + 180 = 360 degrees. If you would add a fifth
line or side to this four-sided figure, it would contain angles equaling 180 +
360 = 540 degrees, ad infinitum.
How can we
explain this uniformity, this elegance? Once again, this isn’t an elegance that
we created, but rather discovered. Furthermore, this uniformity seems to be
immutable and universal—traits that transcend our individual, changing minds.
However, if mathematics is conceptual and therefore, mind-dependent, and yet does not depend upon our minds…then
there must be a universal and immutable Mind that it does depend upon.
To
state this another way:
1. Mathematical
truths are conceptual.
2. They
therefore require a mind(s).
3.
Our human minds are not adequate to
account for the uniformity, immutability, elegance, and harmony with
the “physical” world which we find in mathematical realities. These
mind-dependent realities therefore also point to a greater
Mind. Perhaps, then, they—the universe and mathematics—are both made of
the same “substance,” the thoughts and ideas of a Superior
Intelligence.
CONCLUSION: Therefore,
there must be a greater Mind—God!
If the
universe is not fundamentally material but mind-dependent, then an all-determining
Mind must be its Source and Sustenance.
What mind could
possibly account for the laws of science, the fine-tuning of the universe, and
the fortuitous conditions that are necessary for life and discovery? Only an
all-intelligent and omnipotent One!
Even if we subsequently discover that this world is not mind-dependent, we still have to account for the myriad appearances of design, functionality, elegance, and fine-tuning we see all around us. And this brings us back to an omnipotent and omniscient Creator God, the very God described in the Bible.
Even if we subsequently discover that this world is not mind-dependent, we still have to account for the myriad appearances of design, functionality, elegance, and fine-tuning we see all around us. And this brings us back to an omnipotent and omniscient Creator God, the very God described in the Bible.
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