Monday, November 20, 2006

Quantum mysteries

So are quantum entities particles or waves? Neither, but something else entirely- something unknown in itself. It exhibits either 'particle-life' or 'wave-like' features, depending on the conditions. If you ask a particle question, you get a particle answer. If you ask a wave question, you get a wave answer. In this way subject and observer are inseparably linked in quantum theory....we can say nothing about what the quantum world is like in reality; instead we recognize the validity of alternate and mutually exclusive approaches to it. (The Soul of Science, 1994)

Kind of like the Trinity, I guess. How can God be one and three at the same time when the two are mutually exclusive? No real entity can be both at the same time, or can they? Faith in quantum theory requires a colossal leap from my human understanding to something that is a little beyond intelligibility. It requires a healthy dose of humility in admitting it is true even though I can't totally understand it. The striking beauty of quantum physics is that it works, so I am forced to accept its truth even if I can't visualize it. It is remarkably predicitive, it is experimentally satisfactory, and we see its 'fingerprints' in the everyday behaviour of atoms and subatomic particles. (if you even want to use the word particle!)
And God is a little beyond intelligibility too, but the more I look at him and study him and experience him, the more I see his beauty and the more I understand him.
"Who has known the mind of God?" Paul asks in his letter to the Corinthians...."But we have the mind of Christ." How amazing that God would welcome us into the mystery and beauty and relationship of the Trinity. It takes a colossal leap of faith, and a very substantial dose of humility.

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