A certain friend appeared in my mind’s eye repeatedly, like a catchy song stuck in my brain. When I called to tell her so, not only was she glad to hear from me–she needed someone because the day had worn on her. She and I have that sort of connection between us. It’s reciprocal–an inner knowing from afar when the other needs to be gathered up. Or as Howard Thurman puts it, “one life being bottomed by another.”
Quantum physicists describe it as quantum entanglement–a connectedness between all created things that defies logic and exists outside of our human understanding of space and time. The Divine energy that once moved over an empty and desolate void to create life and living–continues moving and bringing all things together in an intricately connected and unified mutuality. Our at-one-ment with each other in this created world is as vital to our existence as the air we breathe.
I don’t pretend to understand quantum physics or quantum entanglement. Science, life experiences, and my faith tradition all tell me this created world is interconnected in unimaginable and mind-blowing ways. I also know it to be true deep in my bones, even without proofs, theories, or algorithms. Isn’t that the definition of faith?
Spoon sings of something like quantum entanglement in their song Inside Out, “Time’s gone inside out. Time gets distorted… with this intense gravity.” Spoon invites us to consider where we find our grounding. You may describe this intense gravity as: God, Holy, Divine, the bottomer of life, Holy ground, the ground of your being, or even just simply as gravity.
For the faithful pull that seeks to ground and guide us all, Thanks be to God! Without it, life might be a little inside out and chaotic like in M.C. Escher’s depiction of gravity-less life in Relativity.
This reflection inspired by quantum entanglement theory, the ground of our mutual being, Escher’s Relativity, and Spoon’s Inside Out.