Beautiful unanswerable questions

CheeseBertolt Brecht asked the question “What happens to the hole when the cheese has gone?”
According to Einstein, the hole was formed and defined by the cheese around it and disappears when the cheese is eaten. Neils Bohr and quantum theory suggest that the hole may have existed since the beginning of the universe and that the cheese simply happened to form around it for a brief period of time and that the hole will continue to exist after the cheese has been eaten.

 

 

 
ThirdSpace looked at natural theology and the implications of quantum theory for our faith and are now lying down in a darkened room with cold compresses to sooth their fevered brows.
Martin Luther declared “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees and in the flowers and clouds and stars”

 
We are all made of stardust

 

The Helix Nebula

The Helix Nebula

Be humble for youare made of earth
Be noble for you are made of stars
– Serbian Proverb

 
To quote John Polkinghorne “We are people of stardust.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Quantum entanglement demonstrates that we are interconnected to the universe and its origin.
We are connected in deep and mysterious ways at both a sub-atomic and cosmic level.
The Universe is finely tuned for us and we are finely tuned for the Universe.
Our minds and consciousness have gone beyond anything required for everyday survival. We can comprehend the beauty, wonder and intelligibility of the universe.

 
Sometimes it is good to ask deep questions as Carl Sandburg suggests in “Under the Harvest Moon”
“Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions”

 
It is possible to infer from studying quantum theory that we are not random and that there is a beauty, order and elegance in the design of the Universe in which we live, which reflects the attributes of the one who made it. Strong indications exist that God created this Universe and fine tuned it for the specific purpose of creating and sustaining life. We have been given the capacity to be able to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the Universe and this is a wider human reality which goes beyond evolutionary biology.

 

Messier 78 Nebula

The Messier 78 Nebula

William Blake put it this way in “Auguries of innocence”
“To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour”

 

 

 

 

 

 
Or to quote John Polkinghorne again “Something of lasting significance is glimpsed in the beauty of the natural world and the beauty of the fruits of human creativity”

 
Maybe Virginia Woolf was right, both in a wider physical and emotional sense when she wrote:
“I see you everywhere,
in the stars, in the river;
to me you’re everything that exists;
the reality of everything.”