The Light of Observation

Did you ever have an idea, thought, or theory tumbling around in your mind that seemed to touch on something so beautiful, so life-giving that you felt a great weight on yourself to try to be able to verbalize and show it to others in a way that brought better understanding? I often have these sort of 'half-revelations', as I will call them. They are thoughts that really seem to touch on a depth of knowledge that I feel unable to completely grasp to the point of being able to describe. I want so badly to attempt it though, because perhaps if I take the time to try to put it into words, it will become a 'whole revelation'. After all, shared thoughts help to connect and relate us, to each other in some sense, and then, if it's thoughts of God and His nature, then a greater depth in our connection and relationship to Him can also be embodied all the more. So, let's give it a whirl.

I've always been intrigued by particle physics; the little bit I know of it seems otherworldly. I think the mystery of it all speaks of God; after all, God calls us into the depths. 'For if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the reverence of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.' Proverbs 2: 3-5. (Note: I replaced the word 'fear' with reverence here, because the word used here actually means reverence or awe, and I hate when bibles translate the word fear into the place where respectful regard for the Lord is actually what is meant.) The mysteries are hidden like treasures to be found. To mine out from the depths like silver--so, let's just try to explore some of that space.

Have you ever heard of the double slit experiment? (This link can help to visually represent what I am about to discuss) It's a really interesting phenomena that has been observed and studied in particle physics. Essentially, scientists set up two walls: a back wall that serves as a backdrop, and then a wall with two slits cut out of it that allows light to pass through the two slits, kind of like windows. When they used a device to shoot particles of light through these slits, the back wall (backdrop) began to show an interesting pattern; there were lots of slit-like shapes that formed a long pattern along the backdrop. Not at all what was expected, because you would think, if there are two slits in the passthrough wall, then, the light would show up in two slits on the backdrop wall, like it was being projected through those two slits.

However, the intrigue created by this phenomena caused the scientists to delve further into the mystery. They decided to set up an observational tool--similar to how a camera might observe objects, they used a laser as an observational tool to 'see' the particles of light just before they passed through the slits. Something fascinating occurred. The particles changed their behavior; they then created two clear slit shapes on the backdrop wall. So, in other words, light particles when not observed behaved more like waves, whereas light particles observed by a laser (a form of light) behaved like particles--as one would expect. A particle should behave like a particle, no?

What I find so interesting about this phenomena is that the simple act of having light as an observer changed the behavior of the moving light particles. It's as if being observed by light itself called the light into its proper identity. It's as if it showed the way for the moving particles, so that they didn't get caught up in patterns of wavelike behavior. What if John the Baptist was similar to one of the first particles that were observed and being passed through the slit? Let me try to explain, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' (This sounds a lot like consciousness, because without words, is there consciousness?--I do present this as a question of curiosity, I haven't the answer to it. I just question this a lot in my mind, after all, if I didn't have the words to explain what I see and experience, I can have no conscious memory of it; this is why we don't remember being babies, we can't form conscious memories without the programming provided by words to be able to categorize and 'save' this consciousness.) 'He was with God in the beginning.' So, the Word sounds like a form of consciousness or being, because it's referred to as 'he', which we later find out is the embodiment of Jesus. 'Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men' (So, we are seeing here that life was made through Christ and that life, like the laser observer, is a light with a purpose--much like the observational light serves the purpose of observing the individual light particles before they pass through the slit, Christ bears witness as a light to our life as man). 'The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.' So, there was light present in the darkness, but the darkness didn't understand that light and identify with it. 'There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John' (much like a single observed particle sent out toward the slits). 'He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.' (The first particle to recognize and become conscious of the light, the observational light provided by Christ as the observer and originator of light and consciousness as we can know it. John chose to be conscious of that light and bear witness to it and therefore reflect it in His purpose and identity). 'He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.' So here is where the scientific observations differ from my analogy. In our lives, if we assimilate ourselves with these 'particles', we choose whether we are observed or not. The particles in the experiment were either in the 'observed' group or the 'unobserved' group; the particles had no choice in which experiment they were a part of. However, we as humans with consciousness and free will choose whether to remain observed by the light of the world, bearing witness to it, much like John, or whether we would rather be in the unobserved group, identifying with the darkness and behaving in patterns of wavelike behavior. This analogy becomes all the more intriguing if you look at a verse such as James 1:5-7, 'If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like waves of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.' The 'double-minded man' part is what is so interesting to me. The unobserved particle actually creates the wave-like pattern on the other side of the slits because, when unobserved, a particle in the double-slit experiment behaves as a wave and passes through BOTH SLITS AT THE SAME TIME, creating an interference pattern on the other side. This phenomenon is a key aspect of quantum mechanics and the wave-particle duality of matter. So, though a singular particle, it becomes a duality, it becomes unstable--unable to be singular in purpose and consciousness, rather regarding or becoming dependent on something outside of light as its observer. Which creates more interesting thoughts. Perhaps that particle living out this duality or double-minded way-- is choosing to reflect, bear witness to, or identify with the darkness, rather than reflecting and bearing witness to light as its observer. Maybe the particle is simply behaving like whatever its greatest focus is on.

I want to choose to focus on "THE LIGHT OF MEN" as my observer. I want to bear witness to that light outside of myself, to always be conscious to it/Him, so that I can bring to life the identity it creates in me as I find my purpose resonates very well with that light and all that light cultivates in me. I want to recognize that light inside of myself and behave in the way that light behaves. I don't want to be unstable and tossed about with the waves. I want to be steady and sure, predictable and known. Observing and observed. That is my prayer.