I have an interest in a broad area of disciplines: Science, literature, mankind, the list goes on and on. I read an article about the Higgs particle, or commonly referred to as the God particle, in a news article this morning and one tiny portion having nothing to do with the article itself, caught my attention.
A new multi-billion dollar particle accelerator is to be utilized to try and discover this “God particle” by racing protons around a seventeen mile ring at near the speed of light and cracking their skulls together at the end. Through this process scientists hope to discover how particles get their mass. Dr. Stephen Hawking, renowned British astrophysicist, indicated that he hoped that they would not find the particle so that they could spend more time thinking about it, studying it, getting to know the idea better, really dig into it more. This sentiment intrigued me and caused me to think for a moment. The following is the culmination of my thoughts:
I have been reading a trilogy based on the popular computer game, “Myst”. The characters are from a fictional land deep within the earth called D’Ni. (Pronounced Duh Nee)They have lived there for many millennia and their society has formed into a number of groups called “guilds”. Each guild has a separate skill set that has evolved over the years as each has improved upon their particular specialty. The bottom line is that they are intelligent, thinking beings who desire to learn and build upon their knowledge. Of course, they have problems like any other society but I love the thinking and learning that their culture is built upon. Simply put, their role in life is to learn as much as possible and then to take action from what they have learned. The main character, Aitrus, always has a notepad with him and is constantly documenting what he observes from the environment around him. This is passion for him.
Most of us have been on a treasure hunt at one time or another. We attend a birthday party or, in the case of my children, visit their grandparents’ for a week in the summer. This hunt can take many different forms and in the case of my kids treasure hunt, there are clues they have to solve to finally find the hidden treasure. What I love about this is that it requires thinking--using the mind God has given us. What does this have to do with the “God-particle” and Stephen Hawking? There is one common thread: The desire to think; to seek; to explore. This is so cool!
During my brief time of thought on this subject I have come up with a theory that gives me chills. Not chills of fear but of excitement.
God gives us so much including salvation, but our lives are not about religion or even just about salvation. We have been created in the image of God and that means we have the capacity to think, to dream and to create. All of us have these abilities in one degree or another. To search out a thing is the glory of man.
Here’s my theory:
When God created all things He did it in such a way that would require us to learn, to dig, to seek if we wanted understanding. We’re not created to lounge about and simply reach up to pluck a fruit from the vine when the urge takes us but we are to glorify God by doing. Whatever you do, do it all as though to the Lord. We glorify God by working hard. That may be physical labor or it might be in puzzling out the mysteries of the universe. As God was putting all of this wonderful creation together (By the way, He didn’t have to look at the install instructions!(They were in Spanish anyway!) Now you know where we guys come from when we think we can do it without the instructions. We’re just following our Father’s example! :)) He placed treasures and mysteries, just like the summer treasure hunts or the God particle, for us to apply our minds to discovering! Isn’t that cool?! Whether it is archeology, biology, medicine, physics, art, whatever, we can apply ourselves to uncovering the treasures and mysteries that God has planted for us to find in His creation. And, if we take these discoveries and look at them objectively, we can see that, indeed, there is a God and He does want to be found. That desire to be found is catalogued in His word, the Bible. That book also, requires investigation and time. As you roll through this masterpiece you soon discover, as many others have discovered throughout history, that many lifetimes would never be enough to know all that God has reveled about Himself to us through His word.
I think that God, being infinite, can never be fully known by us but when our time in this world is over and we are in Heaven we will have eternity to continue our research and have God Himself by our side!
Apply your whole self to all that you do because in doing that you glorify God and set a good example to those around you, pointing others to the Master in Heaven.
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