The Hidden face of God.

How science reveals the ultimate truth. Gerald L. Schroeder 2001. Simmon & Schroeder

Prologue:
"We are the universe come alive. A single consciousness, an all-encompassing wisdom, pervades the universe.----Every particle, every being, from atom to human, appears to have within it a level of information, of conscious wisdom. The puzzle I confront in this book is this: Where does this arise? There is no hint of it in the laws of nature that govern the interaction among the basic particles that compose all matter. The information just appears as a given, with no casual agent evident, as if it were an intrinsic facet of nature.

The concept that there might be an attribute as non-physical as information or wisdom at the heart of existence in no way denigrates the physical aspect of our lives----There are two aspects to our lives, one of which is bread, physical satisfaction. The other parameter is an underlying universal wisdom. There is no competition between the physical and the material. The two are complimentary, as in the root “to complete”.

Where we touch the conscious we know that the physical and the metaphysical have joined.

The amazing even illogical, discoveries in physics and biology during the past few decades have given us tools to gain scientific insight into the metaphysical underpinnings of our world and in return acquire spiritual insight into scientific, empirical fact. Exposing the awe of existence within the reality of daily life is what this book is about.”

In ‘The Hidden Face of God’ a bold step forward is taken to show that science properly understood provides a positive reason for faith. We now know not only that behind matter lies energy, but also behind energy lies wisdom. From the wisdom encoded in DNA, to the wisdom in the fantastic consciousness, the book offers a tour of the best science.

The organization of organic life, the power of humans to make sense of their sensory inputs and the complexities of the code of DNA all show that life has direction and purpose that cannot be explained in purely physical terms. To believe a designer must be involved, the writer reminds us we need not insist on perfection or our own view of perfection in design.

Chapter 1. The Puzzle of Existence.

The universe is the physical expression of the metaphysical-----it is incongruous to describe a theology without the insights of science.

The baffling riddle is that of existence itself. The very fact and nature of existence, the finite aspects of the physical world we view about us, the limited nature of time, space and matter from which we and all the universe are constructed, force upon us the unsettling reality that at some level there is the metaphysical……

There is the puzzling idea of consciousness and the brain/mind interface. Is mind more than the sum of its physical parts of the brain? The possibility that mind is an emergent property of brain echoes the emergence of wisdom in nature. Is there at some level a universal consciousness that ties all existence together?

At the time of the big bang everything, the entire universe, was part of a homogeneous speck----and before this there was neither time, or space or matter. That speck was the entire universe. There was no other space, Creation was everywhere at once. And then the space and energy stretched out all that exists today in the heavens and on earth. You and I were part of that, a total unity, a single burst of radiation. It formed our bodies and led to our thought.

The atom confronts us with a more surprising yet scientifically confirmed picture of our universe. And then quantum physics came onto the scene with its micro-world ----We discover the world is more intangible than real. It’s essential to see the magnificent subtlety and bounds of how the physical world works if we are going to speculate concerning the metaphysical.

What is Mind?
The easy part of the question deals with brain……Every particle, every body, each aspect of existence appears as expression of information. ……It appears that conscious also is an intrinsic, all present, part of nature, of the universe…In that case every particle would have some aspect of consciousness in it. The more complex the entity, the greater would be the awareness of the consciousness housed within it.

It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom. The universe is also weird, with its laws of nature that make it hospitable to the growth of mind. Page 7

What Underlies all Existence?
This is the bit of information that gives rise to the ‘it’, the substance of matter. If we can discover the underlying idea, we will have ascertained not only the basis of unity that underlies all existence, but the source of that unity. We will have encountered the Hidden face of God.
We swim in a sea of consciousness and accept it without even noticing it. Page 9
Imperfect Design….
The assumption that intelligent design means perfect design is not so. Everything with no exception is a manifestation of an eternal unity, a transcending ubiquitous consciousness which many label as God. Page 14.

Chapter 2.

Physics and Metaphysics.

All our imaginings are built of the parameters in which we live. And yet when we observe the sentient wisdom of life emerging from the physical structure of life we are witnessing the emergence of a parameter not evident in these structures. Page 15.

The objects of our daily lives we take for granted as being solid, our bodies included, are expressions or manifestations of something as ethereal as energy. And below the energy lies information a totally non-material basis for existence. While not calling this information spiritual, science has significantly closed the gap between the material and the spiritual. Page 17.

Chapter 3.

The Workings of the Universe, The Physical of Meta-physics.
Matter in all its forms of solid, liquids and gases is condensed energy. Science has discovered metaphysics within physics. How does an electron change from one energy level to another?…..The electron simply leaps from one orbit to another in Zero time……Sometimes nature moves in gaps. Not only have we learnt that was energy and not ‘really’ matter, we now hold to believe that all matter is both particle-like and wave like. Everything….you and I included…has a wave function. Page 27

The ’quantum weirdness’ of nature has profound implications…..We are star-dust come alive, and somehow conscious of being alive. Page 44.

….An eternal whatever, predates our universe. Page 41.

This chapter is very important and lays the foundation for the next chapter.

‘The Ordinary Cells of Life’.

Our world contains hidden knowledge that is waiting to be expressed Page 48. Wisdom, information, and idea, is the link between the metaphysical creator and the physical creation. It is the hidden face of God. Page 49.

Life on earth is a constant drive to maintain order in a universe that favours chaos. Page 54.

Yet somehow, the dust spewed into space by the nuclear furnace of bygone supernovas has become a human brain that learned to make nuclear reactors here on earth. Page 59.

The making of the Human. Chapter 5.

Right now, within your body, new cells are being produced at a clip of four to five million every second, and every other second too.

After 216 pages of astounding science the writer says.
“There’s a brain of which we are conscious and one we are not. Just as there is a world we perceive and one we do not. Both are real. And with careful thinking we can realize the presence of both” Page 216.