TUESDAY TALK: SIR ISAAC NEWTON AND UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD THROUGH PARALLEL REALITIES

The study of Newtonian Physics as we know it began around 1665, when Sir Isaac Newton, who was then a university student, was sitting in an apple orchard near his home, watching an apple fall from a tree and hit the ground...this observation of "what goes up must come down" started a whole chain of thinking...a revelation that resulted in Newton formulating his ideas about the nature of gravity and motion...ultimately, it led to him providing a mathematical formula for them...he neither invented gravity, nor discovered it, but he described it and the way it functions so clearly and so effectively, that for centuries afterward the scientific world unquestioningly relied on his theories about gravity as an undisputed fact..almost anyone who has ever taken a science class in school has heard this story in one form or another, and it makes sense to our natural minds, and the way that we perceive reality in the physical world...

Fast forward 250 years, to around 1905...somewhere in that window of time, scientists began to notice that physical matter can behave very differently when you observe it on a microscopic level...as they explored that world which is invisible to the naked eye, they discovered that the dependable, sensible laws of physics that were described by Newton and his colleagues just simply did not apply on a sub-atomic level...this newer science that they embraced, as we have already discussed in previous posts, became known as Quantum Physics or Quantum Mechanics... 

In the realm of Quantum Physics, scientists made the amazing discovery that light can simultaneously be both a particle and a wave...that may not seem like a big deal to you if you're not from that community, but this finding really kind of changed everything...Newton’s calculations could never have allowed for such a realization..the groundbreaking work done by accomplished men like Max Planck and Niels Bohr, which led to breakthroughs in Quantum Physics, moved the world's understanding of science and physical reality to a whole new level...they opened up an unprecedented way of studying and understanding the unpredictable way that things behave in the sub-atomic world...and it wasn't just about particles and waves...that was sort of just the beginning of the way that QP turned the scientific world upside down...from there, the more that they observed and uncovered through the microscope, the clearer it became that Mr. Newton's logic simply didn't compute in that world...the more that they tried to understand it, however, the more mysterious it became...

But even though these men proved their theories over and over again, it did not mean that Newton’s theories of gravity were wrong...and it most certainly did not mean that gravity ceased to exist...somehow, the parallel realities of Newtonian Physics and Quantum Physics continue to be true at the same time, even though they seem to contradict one another in many ways...

As we've discussed before, Jesus said, "You have heard it said, but I say..."...the logos and the rhema continue to co-exist in parallel realities...as you evolve, you are the new you, but you are still the recognizable you...Jesus said that He didn't come to destroy the law, but that He actually came to fulfill it...on one level that seems like a contradiction in terms, because everything He said and did seemed so blatantly destructive to the law...again, parallel realities...on more than one occasion He told His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to be crucified, and that He would be raised from the dead after three days, and yet He rebuked and tried to avoid those who were trying to take His life...the man whose son was plagued with seizures said to Jesus, "I do believe, but help my unbelief"...Jesus told the sisters of Lazarus that He was, in fact, the Resurrection, and yet He wept when He saw the tomb of His dead friend...on the Day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and accused his audience of crucifying an innocent man, but in the very same breath he said that the event had happened exactly as God had planned it...parallel realities...

The point in all this, and the connection of it to Newtonian Physics and Quantum Physics both being true, while at the same time refuting each other is this...the world is complex...your thoughts are not always neatly compartmentalized into logical categories...it's possible to say with Charles Dickens that it's "the best of times and the worst of times", and totally be telling the truth about your life and current circumstances...the glass IS half full, but it's still half empty, and that's a reality, regardless of how anyone observes or perceives the glass...

In the sub-atomic world, Newton's Law of Gravity is basically obsolete and irrelevant, and that's been proven, but I promise you that if you go up on the roof of the building where you now are and jump off, you're going to find that Mr. Newton made a valid point about gravity that is just as true as it was in 1665...

In a word, stop overthinking everything...if you're having a bad day, it doesn't mean that you're not having a good day...things aren't that black and white and clearly defined...you may be going through something that you know on some level is the right thing for you, maybe even a blessing in disguise, but you still hate that it's happening...when a loved one who has been ill for a long time, and has suffered terribly finally transitions, you're relieved that they are out of their pain and suffering, but are still broken-hearted that they're gone...you're not crazy...you're not schizophrenic...you don't have multiple personalities...you're not even "double-minded", necessarily...everything doesn't always have to make sense...

Everything is everything...

It just is what it is...

I have my own reasons for writing this today...my own catharsis, if you will...but I hope that it also resonates with you...I feel sure that it probably does, because we're all connected...

Light exists as particles, but it still exists as waves...

And what goes up still must come down...