Matter and Energy, Part 7

Matter and Energy, Part 7

“We are slowed down sound and light waves, a walking bundle of frequencies tuned into the cosmos. We are souls dressed up in biochemical garments and our bodies are the instruments through which our souls play the music.”

Albert Einstein (1856-1943)[1]

In an attempt to bring this 7-week exploration of matter and energy to a reluctant close, I hope to clarify what matter and energy have to do with my current theme of Time and Eternity, as well as why at least a partial understanding of matter and energy is helpful for a better understanding of the nature of God’s creation and God’s relationship with and to us. We know that energy powers matter, like when our body breaks down the food we eat to provide fuel to sustain our various bodily functions. We also know that matter fuels energy production, as when we burn fossil fuels (matter) to produce electricity (energy). Science tells us there is an equivalence between matter and energy. In other words, matter and energy can be considered as the same substance or essence, only in different forms.

Among the known characteristics of energy are that it is invisible, at least to us, and it vibrates at a higher or faster rate than matter. As the vibration rate of energy begins to slow, we perceive it in different forms: first light, then sound, and finally as solid, physical forms. As such, we can consider matter as a condensed, cooled, and/or slowed down form of energy. Likewise, we can consider energy as an expanded, hotter, and faster-moving form of matter.

The initial creation story recorded in Genesis, thought to have originated sometime between 1000 to 500 BCE, records creation as an interplay of matter and energy, or of earth and spirit. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth (matter) was a formless void and darkness (no light = no energy) covered the face of the deep, while a wind (energy) from God swept over the face of the waters (matter).”[2] Energy from God, described as wind or spirit, acts upon (sweeps over) the matter of the earth to form and animate life as we know it. This is the on-going energy-to-matter conversion for the creation of physical life. Both forms of whatever the shared essence of matter and energy is, are required. It is in the interplay of both matter and energy that life on earth manifests. It is not that spirit (energy) and matter (earth) cannot exist independently of each other. In their differentiated states, however, there is no manifested physical life. And their separation is one of form, not substance.

When our physical bodies die, the animating spirit (energy) exits, and the remaining corpse is physical matter which breaks down into its component parts and is recycled for other matter and/or energy purposes. While the physical matter of earthly entities remains part of the earth, the spiritual nature of earthly lives – the soul – returns to the realm of spirit from which it came. The embodied spirit we knew as our life separates itself once again into matter and energy.

With regard to eternity, both matter and energy (body and spirit) are eternal, although they express their eternal natures differently. The material elements making up our bodies are made available for use in other material forms of life, perhaps by other people, or perhaps by trees or monkeys or fungi. Of course, this process of recycling the elements of our physical bodies goes on throughout our lives as we slough off cells, eliminate waste, and exhale gaseous matter no longer needed for our subsistence.

Our souls, on the other hand, return to the mysterious realm of spirit where the expression of eternity is perhaps less visible but arguably more believable since spirit is not subject to the time-related deterioration of the matter making up our bodies. These energy-to-matter-to-energy-to-matter conversions are inseparable parts of the cycles of life: birth, growth, maturation, decline, death, and rebirth. Matter is converted into energy which is converted back into matter, and life goes on and on and on. The entire cycle is the changing form of a single substance, a manifestation of the one nature we are, in and from God. Even though we like to divide what we witness into different parts, like night and day, they are only the different forms of a single thing – a day. So it is with matter and energy, life and death, time and eternity. All are but different forms of a single phenomenon.

This is the 20^th in a series of Life Notes on Space, Time, and Eternity. The opinions expressed here are mine. To engage with me or to explore contemplative spiritual direction, contact me at ghildenbrand@sunflower.com.

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[1] www.quotefancy.com/albert-einstein-quotes, accessed August 30, 2023.

[2] Genesis 1:1-2, NRSV. Italics and words in italics added.