There is an excellent column in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal entitled, A Dark Matter Breakthrough?
In it, the physicist Lawrence Krauss writes about dark matter, which may or may not exist. It does exist in many theories that seem to require it to eliminate otherwise incongruent observations, and there may be empirical evidence that supports its existence, or not.
If it does exist, it may have a mass that is ten times greater than visible matter.
When we read articles like his, a few things come to mind.
First, although Mr. Krauss makes no mention of God, it’s difficult not to think of Him when someone mentions massive, unseen forces that influence everything in the Universe. Moreover, we suspect there are many (atheists) who believe in dark matter because it is from “science,” but not God, because they cannot find evidence of Him. That reminds us of two things: (1) the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and (2) do they appreciate the irony?
Secondly, Mr. Krauss writes:
For the theorist working at his desk alone at night, it seems almost unfathomable that nature might actually obey the delicate theories you develop on pieces of paper. This is especially true when the theories involve ideas from so many different areas of science and require leaps of imagination.
We’re not really disagreeing with Mr. Krauss, but it does depend upon ones perspective.
If one views science and scientific knowledge as a proper subset of reason–the empirical, verifiable part of reason–and if via the first chapter of the Gospel of John, one equates God with reason (logos, the word, thought) then one shouldn’t be surprised that, regardless of ones motivation, one can learn more about God’s creation through thought alone.
We think that Saint Thomas Aquinas said it best:
“The final happiness of man consists in the contemplation of truth…. This is sought for its own sake, and is directed to no other end beyond itself.”
That’s why it is the first quote on our Quotes page.
By the way, interested parties can read the little that we know about epistemology in Uncertainty Management or scan our religion archive. Unearthly Discipline and Freewill is the most closely related post.
Merry Christmas.
