CHAPTER 1
In The Beginning ...
In the beginning was God. God was all there was, andGod remembered no beginning and could envision noend to himself.
God began to recognize a feeling within himself, andhe called this feeling loneliness. This was an uncomfortablefeeling, and God began to ponder ways in which he couldbe free of this feeling.
God opened a space within himself and, within themidst of this space, he spoke a Word. An explosion tookplace, and we call this explosion The Big Bang. Thus beganthe universe as we know it. This universe is contained withinthe bubble which God opened within himself. We will callit a reality bubble. It is possible that there are other realitybubbles, but we are aware of only this one. In the future, wemay be able to discover whether or not other reality bubblesexist, other universes like or unlike our own, but for now wewill content ourselves with exploring our own.
God infused the space within himself with matter/energy and with part of his own consciousness. That partof his consciousness which is within the reality bubble, wecall the Immanent Godhead. That part which is without,we call the Transcendent Godhead.
As the matter/energy exploded outward from thecenter of the bubble God had created within himself,consciousness went with it. Matter/energy fused withspace and became what I call the spacetime matrix. Thespacetime matrix, or matrix for short, is pervaded with theconsciousness of the Immanent Godhead.
Some physicists have realized that subatomic particleshave an elementary form of consciousness, but most havenot. This is entirely understandable, since science as awhole has not known what to do with consciousness duringthe entirety of its brief life. Science has, for the most part,chosen to believe that mind and matter are two entirelydifferent things and that scientists must restrict theirresearch to the material world. This, of course, has onlydelayed the inevitable. For centuries, consciousness wasrelegated to theologians and, more recently, psychologists.The study of the so-called hard sciences such as physicsand chemistry was reserved for those intellectuals who hadno interest in the messiness of the human psyche or God.
This was not always the case. Many of the great earlyscientists such as Isaac Newton were devoutly religiousand were attempting to discover the laws of the naturalworld as created by God. Newton is regarded as one of thetwo greatest scientists in the history of science, the secondbeing Albert Einstein. Einstein also believed in God,though he believed that God had created the universeand then stepped away, allowing it to progress accordingto the laws he had incorporated into it. This is a form ofDeism and is a partial truth. It seems that most modernscientists, however, and physicists especially, are eitheratheists or agnostics. Some are vehemently opposed to anysuggestion that God even exists, let alone that he createdthe universe or has an ongoing relationship with it. We willsee, however, that theists, atheists and agnostics all have aplace in God's world.
CHAPTER 2
The Fabric Of The Universe
The fabric of the universe is the spacetime matrix.Matter/energy and spacetime intertwine to createthis elementary matrix. The matrix is discreteor discontinuous due to its particle nature. This is whatmakes spacetime a quantum process. This quantumprocess is associated with consciousness, however, and istherefore also continuous. In his book The Dancing Wu LiMasters (2007), Gary Zukav quotes physicist E.H. Walkeras follows: "Consciousness may be associated with allquantum mechanical processes ... since everything thatoccurs is ultimately the result of one or more quantummechanical events, the universe is inhabited by analmost unlimited number of rather discrete, conscious,usually non-thinking entities that are responsible for thedetailed working of the universe." These "entities" arethe subatomic particles which comprise the quantum (orenergic) flux. Since matter is energy, the quantum flux plusEinstein's spacetime continuum comprises the spacetimematrix, along with the Immanent Godhead.
Matrix theory can be classified as a quantum fieldtheory. The matrix as a whole is the primary quantumfield which is comprised of all lesser fields. Many of ourcomments about the spacetime matrix can be derivedfrom the ramifications of a quote by the father of quantumtheory, physicist Max Planck. He is quoted by authorGregg Braden in The Divine Matrix as follows: "All matteroriginates and exists only by virtue of a force ... We mustassume behind this force the existence of a conscious andintelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter(Braden, 2007)."
Though I decided on the use of the term matrix beforebecoming aware of Braden's book and this quote fromPlanck, I was happy to find confirmation that others sharedat least some of the conceptualizations which comprise theCyclic God Hypothesis. As we continue, we will discoverconcepts from many other individuals which supportour thesis. Some of these individuals are well known andhighly respected scientists, and some are mystics. Thereader may perhaps be surprised (and potentially pleased)to hear that I'll be quoting mystics. Atheistic scientistswould be appalled by any suggestion that mysticism is anecessary tool for any fully formed understanding of theuniverse. Mysticism, as defined by Webster's New WorldDictionary, is the "belief in the possibility of attainingdirect communion with God or knowledge of spiritualtruths, as by meditation." It is the process of attainingthat knowledge, the knowledge itself and the actual state ofcommunion. Anyone who has read Dr. Fritjof Capra's TheTao of Physics (1999) is aware of the similarities betweendescriptions of the mystical experience and concepts ofquantum physics.
I would define mysticism as the process of, andknowledge obtained by, direct contact...
