With a raucous squee heard all through nerd-dom, scientists at CERN (the home of the Large Hadron Collider, in Switzerland) announced last week that they found the Higgs-Boson, aka the "God particle." Many of you might have noticed this cropping up on your social media and in the news. Maybe you've done a little research to understand it better, maybe you're a genius who completely gets it or maybe you have no flippin' idea what I'm talking about. With 8 minutes, your curiosity helmet, and a good sense of humor you can learn more about it in this video.
"Imagine a field that permeates the entire universe..."
Ah-ah-ah Dharmadatu Dakini
Prajnaparamita ah hung phed ah
So how does this particle work and what does that mean to the Spiritual person? Well, from what I can glean, the Higgs-Boson is the particle that "makes a thing actually a thing and not just a concept." Think of everything, everywhere, as being made of pure Spirit. Well, yes, I know it is. But I mean, think of everything as the pre-vapor of Spirit, or the idea of Spirit, rather than the substance of Spirit as you might conceive of it. In fact, before anything even shapes into actual matter it is Spirit, and before that it seems to be pure potential only. Before something is substantive, it is conceptual only. And just so you know, there actually is no "before" about it in the vast field we are talking about, but I am just saying that to make it more apprehendable. Bottom line, the Higgs-Boson is what gives substance to Spirit. It locates matter as a phenomenal process with tangible product rather than mere possibility. It makes actual what might only have been previously a thought-form, a snip of a second, or a wisp of nothingness. It makes matter from anti-matter, or else it gets Dark Matter to conform to the standards of what we quantify as matter. And it likely has a number of other friends that have the keys to unlocking a good many mysteries about the nature of existence. From this article:
Due to its supernatural powers of creating something out of nothing, the Higgs-Boson has been called the "God Particle." It is the power of creation that humanity has long ascribed to a vast parade of deities throughout history (and well before recorded history, it can be surmised). Here is an article where a very smug, smart, and science-minded person gloats about how the particle acquired that nickname and how the particle eliminates the need for belief in anything outside of science.
But what if the different types of particles are just various sects of infinitesimally Lilliputian monks who all belong to the same larger religion?
There is a reason that there has always been a story of God/dess among humans.
Many of us need the story of God/dess as the portal or lens through which we experience the universe. God/dess gives our story a context. It builds a skeleton of meaning for our lives to hang upon. There will never not be a need for that among some people, just as others build their skeleton of meaning around science alone, or around watching their soap operas, or around following a band or sports team. Particles arrange themselves in spacetime to create unique events. Each of these unique events has a story. Each of us is a unique event that has a story. For some of us, the story is God/dess.
Beginnings and beginninglessness...where does the story begin? Where does it end? Is there a full and measurable cycle that repeats? The mind likes those clean corners, but what if there is no beginning or end? What if there is only process unfolding and iterating? Science and religion both suggest a "beginning" and an eventual collapse of the unique event of this plane of existence, but in terms of a larger beginning or end?...well, we don't actually need to worry about that right now.
Recently, I was trying to teach my concept of the Divine to a class, and the best language I could find was, "God/dess is not a static thing. It is a dynamic thing. It is actually not a thing at all, it is the act of thinging..."
Oscillations in the Void
I saw on Facebook a day or two after the announcement was made that my colleague Michael Strojan had posted this image. I am not sure if he made it or just shared it, but I found it thought-provoking.
So, is the Higgs-Boson a God/dess? Well... it's a thing. It's actually a thing thinging. It has a story: a named and now-observable, measurable and repeatable phenomenon of selfhood within the scaffold of the religion we call science. It was "real" all along unto itself, but it now has "reality" cred in the minds of the human species. It is now a "thing" to us. When the concept of the Higgs-Boson was brought forth 50 years ago, its skeleton story of reality began to form in human consciousness. Twenty years ago, the name "God Particle" was parenthetically assigned to it, thus personifying it within the story as a character rather than a setting or process, of which it is actually also both. It is, literally, the wave enactment in the ground of being that creates and destroys reality. We now know that, we know it in an evidentiary and experiential way that makes it "real" to us. The delineation of the Higgs-Boson as "real" gave it mass. Until we observed it, it did not "have mass" to us. It was a mystery. It was a potential. It was a thought. It was a mystery-potential-thought. A hypothesis, if you will. We knew it could make stuff because we could see the stuff, but we couldn't see the making. So, some humans personified it, since our human subjectivity posits the human understanding of something, even something that is non-human, at the center of the view. Isn't that how God/dess(es) are also made?
Admitting that all religion, belief, or faith is a choice of scaffold upon which to hang a personal or collective story seems a fair and reasonable footing for the next step in the evolution of understanding around science and God/dess. For those who base their religion or spiritual practice on the concept of belief in God/dess, they will find an imaginal way to work this in or they will stand at the outskirts of it, shouting at it to go away. For those whose religion is based on faith in science, well, they sort of knew it was all there all along. The proof makes things more interesting, opens new doors. Achievement unlocked. For those who do not see God/dess as a static thing, but rather as the thinging of all the things, well, we are pretty blessed to be able to both ACKNOWLEDGE the scientific evidence and say THAT'S STILL GOD/DESS. I never had a quarrel with science. When my entire world is based upon my choice to acknowledge or accept any idea I want, I can allow for a broad spectrum of understanding to shape my personal story of existence. I have a multi-dimensional, and very colorful, skeleton of a story that I like to hang my life on.
Cool, maybe I will trance out and channel the Higgs-Boson! Lol!
In the era of High Ceremonial Physics, there is still a choice to enact your Will, a choice to evolve along a theme for the sake of beauty, elegance, or emotion. There is still a choice to personify anything, anything at all, actually, if you subscribe to the concept of particle animism. Which I do. It's still all a choose-your-own-adventure story, folks.
I'd like to note that, as I sat hunched over my computer watching the announcement - an excited physics witch who only knows enough to be dangerous- much of what was said was completely over my head. Life didn't actually change much. My altar candles still glowed. My cats still prowled the house. The night was still quiet. The stars moved in their arcs of light above, arcs of light millions of years old, streams beaming forth along currents, like information flows, like umbilical cords made of energy, like strands of hair trailing from the divine brow of the Goddess, and I watched with joy the birth of a New Story. Blessed be.
"Imagine a field that permeates the entire universe..."
Ah-ah-ah Dharmadatu Dakini
Prajnaparamita ah hung phed ah
So how does this particle work and what does that mean to the Spiritual person? Well, from what I can glean, the Higgs-Boson is the particle that "makes a thing actually a thing and not just a concept." Think of everything, everywhere, as being made of pure Spirit. Well, yes, I know it is. But I mean, think of everything as the pre-vapor of Spirit, or the idea of Spirit, rather than the substance of Spirit as you might conceive of it. In fact, before anything even shapes into actual matter it is Spirit, and before that it seems to be pure potential only. Before something is substantive, it is conceptual only. And just so you know, there actually is no "before" about it in the vast field we are talking about, but I am just saying that to make it more apprehendable. Bottom line, the Higgs-Boson is what gives substance to Spirit. It locates matter as a phenomenal process with tangible product rather than mere possibility. It makes actual what might only have been previously a thought-form, a snip of a second, or a wisp of nothingness. It makes matter from anti-matter, or else it gets Dark Matter to conform to the standards of what we quantify as matter. And it likely has a number of other friends that have the keys to unlocking a good many mysteries about the nature of existence. From this article:
We have reason to believe that there are many particles waiting to be discovered, and the Higgs could be the portal that connects us to this invisible world.
Due to its supernatural powers of creating something out of nothing, the Higgs-Boson has been called the "God Particle." It is the power of creation that humanity has long ascribed to a vast parade of deities throughout history (and well before recorded history, it can be surmised). Here is an article where a very smug, smart, and science-minded person gloats about how the particle acquired that nickname and how the particle eliminates the need for belief in anything outside of science.
Assuming the particle in question is indeed the Higgs, it validates an unprecedented revolution in our understanding of fundamental physics and brings science closer to dispensing with the need for any supernatural shenanigans all the way back to the beginning of the universe—and perhaps even before the beginning, if there was a before.Indeed, now that we have the "God Particle" will we find that there is no longer a need for deity? I mean, at this point, don't we have to admit that this is all really just the result of a chaotic process of unfolding events in spacetime, guided by particles moving along a patterned grid of perpetual creation and destruction?
But what if the different types of particles are just various sects of infinitesimally Lilliputian monks who all belong to the same larger religion?
There is a reason that there has always been a story of God/dess among humans.
Many of us need the story of God/dess as the portal or lens through which we experience the universe. God/dess gives our story a context. It builds a skeleton of meaning for our lives to hang upon. There will never not be a need for that among some people, just as others build their skeleton of meaning around science alone, or around watching their soap operas, or around following a band or sports team. Particles arrange themselves in spacetime to create unique events. Each of these unique events has a story. Each of us is a unique event that has a story. For some of us, the story is God/dess.
Beginnings and beginninglessness...where does the story begin? Where does it end? Is there a full and measurable cycle that repeats? The mind likes those clean corners, but what if there is no beginning or end? What if there is only process unfolding and iterating? Science and religion both suggest a "beginning" and an eventual collapse of the unique event of this plane of existence, but in terms of a larger beginning or end?...well, we don't actually need to worry about that right now.
Recently, I was trying to teach my concept of the Divine to a class, and the best language I could find was, "God/dess is not a static thing. It is a dynamic thing. It is actually not a thing at all, it is the act of thinging..."
Oscillations in the Void
I saw on Facebook a day or two after the announcement was made that my colleague Michael Strojan had posted this image. I am not sure if he made it or just shared it, but I found it thought-provoking.
So, is the Higgs-Boson a God/dess? Well... it's a thing. It's actually a thing thinging. It has a story: a named and now-observable, measurable and repeatable phenomenon of selfhood within the scaffold of the religion we call science. It was "real" all along unto itself, but it now has "reality" cred in the minds of the human species. It is now a "thing" to us. When the concept of the Higgs-Boson was brought forth 50 years ago, its skeleton story of reality began to form in human consciousness. Twenty years ago, the name "God Particle" was parenthetically assigned to it, thus personifying it within the story as a character rather than a setting or process, of which it is actually also both. It is, literally, the wave enactment in the ground of being that creates and destroys reality. We now know that, we know it in an evidentiary and experiential way that makes it "real" to us. The delineation of the Higgs-Boson as "real" gave it mass. Until we observed it, it did not "have mass" to us. It was a mystery. It was a potential. It was a thought. It was a mystery-potential-thought. A hypothesis, if you will. We knew it could make stuff because we could see the stuff, but we couldn't see the making. So, some humans personified it, since our human subjectivity posits the human understanding of something, even something that is non-human, at the center of the view. Isn't that how God/dess(es) are also made?
Admitting that all religion, belief, or faith is a choice of scaffold upon which to hang a personal or collective story seems a fair and reasonable footing for the next step in the evolution of understanding around science and God/dess. For those who base their religion or spiritual practice on the concept of belief in God/dess, they will find an imaginal way to work this in or they will stand at the outskirts of it, shouting at it to go away. For those whose religion is based on faith in science, well, they sort of knew it was all there all along. The proof makes things more interesting, opens new doors. Achievement unlocked. For those who do not see God/dess as a static thing, but rather as the thinging of all the things, well, we are pretty blessed to be able to both ACKNOWLEDGE the scientific evidence and say THAT'S STILL GOD/DESS. I never had a quarrel with science. When my entire world is based upon my choice to acknowledge or accept any idea I want, I can allow for a broad spectrum of understanding to shape my personal story of existence. I have a multi-dimensional, and very colorful, skeleton of a story that I like to hang my life on.
Cool, maybe I will trance out and channel the Higgs-Boson! Lol!
In the era of High Ceremonial Physics, there is still a choice to enact your Will, a choice to evolve along a theme for the sake of beauty, elegance, or emotion. There is still a choice to personify anything, anything at all, actually, if you subscribe to the concept of particle animism. Which I do. It's still all a choose-your-own-adventure story, folks.
I'd like to note that, as I sat hunched over my computer watching the announcement - an excited physics witch who only knows enough to be dangerous- much of what was said was completely over my head. Life didn't actually change much. My altar candles still glowed. My cats still prowled the house. The night was still quiet. The stars moved in their arcs of light above, arcs of light millions of years old, streams beaming forth along currents, like information flows, like umbilical cords made of energy, like strands of hair trailing from the divine brow of the Goddess, and I watched with joy the birth of a New Story. Blessed be.
As a born animist, I experienced some confusion when I found out that wind is caused by convection currents. "But I know him, he's my oldest friend, how is he just caused by convection currents?" And yet it was clearly true. Eventually, I realized that it was my definition of sentience which needed adjustment. I thought "If you were to observe my brain, all you would observe would be electrochemical processes, but somehow, that clearly constitutes my consciousness, my sentience. So the wind is no less sentient than I am; we are both just processes."
ReplyDeleteI am loving this quote from you:
"What if there is only process unfolding and iterating?"
Yes, that's all there needs to be! And that is everything which I observe and experience, and also everyone, including deities, whom I know and love!
I really en-joyed reading this. The whole thing, but the last paragraph specifically brought those swirly, flowing, caressing feelings in my heart that I get as if a big soft piece of Rosophia just landed on my chest. "...like umbilical cords made of energy..." We're not just made of star stuff, we are God/dess stuff!
ReplyDelete"It has a story: a named and now-observable, measurable and repeatable phenomenon of selfhood within the scaffold of the religion we call science." -Rabbit
ReplyDeleteMy father is a physicist. His truest religion IS science, not the religion he was born and raised us with...of which I am proud of that rich 4000 year old heritage as a people....everytime as a child I spoke to him of my dreams(and dreaming is still one of the greatest powers I have), of my visions, of my curiosity and belief in E.S.P., I didn't feel I could tell him I believed in magic too, but just didn't know how to access it then, he just poo pooed it, ignored me or put me down. He still doesn't have spiritual beliefs, or acknowledge mine or anyone else's...because his full belief is in the religion of science, and what fits into those quantifiable paradigms. -M.A.
"Admitting that all religion, belief, or faith is a choice of scaffold upon which to hang a personal or collective story seems a fair and reasonable footing for the next step in the evolution of understanding around science and God/dess. For those who base their religion or spiritual practice on the concept of belief in God/dess, they will find an imaginal way to work this in or they will stand at the outskirts of it, shouting at it to go away. For those whose religion is based on faith in science, well, they sort of knew it was all there all along." -Rabbit
What I learned from growing up in a scientific family, and having studied science myself including physics, biology, geology and math in high school and college, is that there are realms that science doesn't touch, where WE are both subject and object.From the very first time I read 'The Spiral Dance', to the rituals I did in the mountains when the Dyke Witches brought me out, that it is a marriage between right brain and left brain. That we need BOTH, logic to dispell superstition, but intuition to listen to things that would fool our mind and lead us astray. Our mind can easily be decieved, or entranced, but our gut, our instinct, and our intuition, our deepest knowing often without logic or deeper than logic, can keep us as women safe, in particular. Which is what I taught many women in my self-defense classes. EVERYTIME they(or I) defied our intuitions or our instincts, that still voice within, that gut feeling, and did not trust, bad things happened.
So, I learned from their experiences and my own, science does not have all the answers, and I personally wouldn't want to be in a universe where nothing had any meaning, and where there wasn't mystery, magic and deep knowing and Connection with something beyond myself, often connected with Mother Nature, and even beyond..to the stars.....inexplicable to the scientists because they had not 'proven' it yet, but our minds are so small compared to the hugeness of the Universe, of Goddess and beyond...that who is being the observer and who is being observed? There is no such thing as total objectivity because it is still being observed with human consciousness, human instruments, and human biases. So thusly, the Greater Truth is often that Subject and Object are One.....both intuition/instinct and logic can go hand in hand as ways of knowing, deny neither, and use that which seems most true in the moment and over time....
-Blessed Be,
-MasterAmazon