Blog of Pulitzer Prize Nominated Author, Jory Sherman. Get the latest information on his books, appearances and his candid reflections on writing.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

DARK MATTER; DARK ENERGY

There are places in the mind where a person might go to find peace and solitude. There are also places where one might ask questions and even a corner where one can receive answers.

I go to these places every day, early in the morning, at night after I’ve gone to bed. These places are a writer’s refuge, and include a confessional, an examination room, an altar, an imaginary paradise that may not be entirely imaginary.

It was in one of these dark and peaceful places where I began pondering the question concerning a pair of cosmic puzzles, two mysteries of the universe that have garnered my attention for some years.

In my reading, which is actually listening to audio books, I came across the striking fact that our universe is largely empty. Even though, in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, we can see billions of stars and nearby planets, and knowing there are billions of galaxies, many trillions of stars and countless other objects floating through space, 96 percent of the visible universe is just empty space. Yet, further listening gave me the information that most of the known universe is composed of Dark Matter, and another portion is equally invisible Dark Energy.

No scientist has yet measured or seen either dark matter or dark energy. Yet it is believed that these exist.

To me, these two puzzles provide answers to mysteries long dwelling in my own mind, and make perfect sense.

For I believe that the perfection of the universe with its slow process of creation, destruction and rebirth, is powerful evidence of a mind greater than any human’s, individually or collectively.

Gravity is puzzling enough, but Dark Energy? What is it? What purpose does it serve? As for Dark Matter, it is so vast, yet so invisible, it looms as something gigantically enormous that it must have a vital purpose, a purpose well beyond our finite minds.

In that dark corner of my meditative mind, I puzzled over these questions and came to some simple and very human resolutions. Or, perhaps, I should say probabilities.

I have long believed that there is but one Great Mind in this universe, this visible and measurable universe, and that we all draw from it. It is through this mind that we express our wishes, ask our questions, and draw some conclusions. We each draw from this mind what we need at the moment. I have used this mind, or its concept, to write stories and books, articles, poetry, essays, and the paintings I paint. I have found knowledge there that I never gleaned from reading or listening to any book. I have found evidence of it in my subconscious and ways to bring it into consciousness. And, consciousness itself, I believe, is part of that single Great Mind, and exists outside of our brains and bodies. Consciousness is, perhaps, eternal and has no beginning nor end. And, if there is such a thing as an afterlife, I believe that it is our consciousness that survives, for it is part of that Great Mind that we all use, some wisely, some diabolically.

So, we come to Dark Matter.

What is it?

From that small meditation room in a small corner of my mind, I have concluded that Dark Matter is that one Great Mind that creates all that is in existence. And Dark Energy? To me, that energy is used by Dark Matter to create, to grant human wishes, to provide solutions to enigmas. That energy is what powers gravity and thought, makes thoughts into things.

What other explanation is there for something so enormous and mysterious and widespread that is unmeasureable and invisible?

Those of us who embrace the universal Law of Attraction, who believe that if one directs thought to the universe, the universe changes, just as one atom shot into the void causes change, and even observing any object changes it. For thoughts are powerful energies, invisible and unmeasureable.

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. That’s a well-known axiom in physics. Energy can only be transformed. So, when we inject our thoughts into the universe, the universe responds in kind. Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

Who is to say that I am wrong? Not the scientists, not the great thinkers of the world.

For if there is Dark Matter and Dark Energy, they exist for a reason and a purpose, just like everything else in the universe and on this small planet. And, everything is connected. Everything.

So far, I am dealing merely with philosophy, and that philosophy is my own.

But might not these things we call Dark Matter and Dark Energy, just be part of what we call God?

It would seem so, and perhaps we should rename these two invisible concepts. After all, down through history, God has had many names: Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, and, with some Native American Tribes, the Great Spirit. In light of what I suspect about the nature of God, the latter name seems most appropriate. As for Dark Matter and Dark Energy, it may be time to put a different label on them.

What should we call them?

I offer this, humbly: Divine Matter. Divine Energy.

This terminology takes away the darkness, but does not lessen the great mystery.

Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going?

My answer is that we came from Divine Matter and Divine Energy. We came from that place of darkness and invisibility (to the human eye, at least), and it is to that dark region we will one day return. Each of us and all of us.

Then, and only then, may we understand some or all the mysteries of this universe and of life itself.

Jory Sherman