how that could be possible! The Universal Energy Field/ Divine Matrix connects all beings in space including Planet Earth and the creatures on it. Now we are told there is no vacuum in Space, as we learned in secondary school Physics. Furthermore, matter is energy vibrating at a different frequency. The Creator of All can then surely change their frequency to materialise or dematerialise for our benefit and understanding, as did Christ in the scriptural account.
One of the most bizarre discoveries of the 21st century was that the universe is expanding at an accelerating speed. The culprit behind this ramp-up, called dark energy12 for lack of a better term, is an unknown force that’s pushing the universal expansion so that as cosmic time goes on, galaxies fly faster and faster apart. Yet despite its implications for the fate of our world, astronomers have no idea what dark energy is.
There are many theories about dark energy, one of which is ‘quintessence’ in which dark energy varies with time and location and its energy density increases over time. According to this theory, the universe would meet a violent fate that physicists call a “Big Rip” (again, with the very literal naming), in which the universe would explode; atoms cannot keep up with how fast they are being pulled apart and stretched. Everything in and out of sight would be obliterated. The universe would go out with a bang.
Does this perceived dark energy threaten our world? Do we need rescuing from it? In my understanding, God invites our participation in a plan of unconditional love to save this planet and its people from the corruption of evil, darkness and despair – maybe it is dark energy that separates us from God and each other. Quantum Physics demonstrates that everyone has an energy field connected to the Universal Energy field or Divine matrix. According to Greg Braden, scientific experiments show that observation changes not only the outcome of the trial but also our beliefs, which have the power to change the flow of events in the universe – literally to interrupt and redirect time, matter, and space, and the activities that occur within them! Wow! I resonate fully with Braden that it is love, rather than fear that has the potential to change our reality and that of our planet. The positive energy which we can tune into through prayer, gratitude for grace or meditation, and so transmit positive vibrations back into the Universal Energy field, could be universe changing. The scriptures reinforce this concept of interconnection and are clear about the nature and principles of a loving God in the ‘ten commandments’ given to Moses at Mount Sinai. Although, phrased in the negative; thou shalt not; they are trustworthy guides in the user manual of moral behaviour. The first two commandments are about how to love the Creator God; the next eight are about how to love oneself and others. For me this is a failsafe user manual for respecting ourselves, others and the Divine.
Eugene Peterson, in his paraphrase of the New Testaments, 1 Corinthians 13 called - The way of love, expresses the value of love in an efficient and beautifully poetic way,
“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate…We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, Hope unswervingly, Love extravagantly. And the best of the three is Love.”
Peterson’s words expand my understanding of Love; with positive energy and gratitude, for another’s view of the scriptures. The idea of extravagant loving blows my hair back! (as our son Ant would say).
Ken Wilbur13, cutting edge philosopher, exploring spirituality, refers to Paul Tillich who suggests that spiritual refers to that which indicates a person’s ‘ultimate concern’. Wilbur asks ‘in what level of God do you believe? What is your ultimate concern? Is it food - the stuff of your ultimate reality; is it real food, emotional food, mental food, transpersonal food? What is the altitude of your reality? How high is your God? In short what do you worship? Because it is something…’
My answer would be: the altitude of my God connects with me through a loving universal energy field and receives my gratitude through mindfulness, human intimacy, creativity and work; playing tennis, cycling, song and dance; all the gifts of prayer, meditation, sharing and extending Grace - sending positive vibrations (Love) into the Universal energy field / the zero-point field / the Divine Matrix!
All religions honour part or all of these connections to the Divine, but sadly tend to distort them to manipulate and control their members; I long to be free of such distortions and to live in the essence of Love.
My most vexing dilemma in this quagmire of reasoning has been how to understand a God of Love who permits dreadful suffering in the world. The Old Testament story of Abraham, being asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah, as a test of faith, was a real stumbling block for me. Does God test our loyalty in this way by asking us to do what he commands us not to do? “Thou shalt not kill”. God then provides a scapegoat as the sacrifice. Does God test our faith at all? Is it moral to do so? Did God allow/permit or cause Lyndi’s death to test my faith? If so I would consider that capricious and immoral – there must be another interpretation for what happened at Mount Moriah.
Where to from here? I hope that my journey chronicled here goes some way toward answering these questions…
1993 Stop All the Clocks—My Heart's Ripped Out
“I wonder why Lyndi’s not answering the phone?” My husband has been pressing the recall button all morning,
“It’s already eleven o’clock, and I’ve been trying since eight.”
I tell myself that he is worrying unnecessarily, but then he is very protective of his family. He often phones to check if I have arrived at work safely. I have to drive along the N2 Highway, and there have been several incidents of bricks hurled from fly-over bridges onto the cars below. The subsequently smashed windscreens and head injuries are a testimony to the disillusionment and anger of some residents of Khayelitsha - a sprawling informal suburb of Cape Town on both sides of the highway.
“She may have had a late-night and pulled the phone plug out at the wall,” I reply.
“Or she may already be on her way to help Carmen.”
Lyndi has been living in a flat in Cape Town with two other students while reading for a Civil Engineering degree. Her friend, Carmen is moving to a new house today.
To allay my apprehension, I remind myself of an incident of a few months before. Lyndi had returned to Cape Town on a Sunday afternoon. My husband had been away on business, and I had requested a promise; that she gives us, her brother Anthony and me, a scotch-buzz – allowing the phone to ring; then hang up, when she got there,
“If we don’t hear the ring within an hour we will come looking for you”. Half an hour passes; then an hour. We phone her flat, but there’s no reply. Anthony suggests we wait another half an hour and then set out to look for her. When we still haven’t heard, he gets behind the wheel and, defying the speed limit, races the forty kilometres to town. Throughout the journey, Ant scans his side of the highway, and I study mine. Praying that we won’t see the red bakkie - pick up truck, lying in a ditch, or surrounded by angry stone-throwers.
We arrive at her apartment block in the record time of 15 minutes and find her walking out of the lift. Before we can say a word, she bursts into tears, explaining that a next-door neighbour had locked himself out of his flat. She’s been so busy helping him to get hold of a master key, which is not easy on a Sunday afternoon, she completely forgot about the scotch-ring. She is sorry to have put us through anxiety and a needless trip
