(18) God-Territory

"To explore into God is prayer, not in the conventional sense, but in the
sense that theology is a prayer. As we explore the God-territory
prayerfully, we suddenly reach a point where we discover that it gives
itself to us. God and the whole universe are giving themselves
continuously to us."
[Fritjof Capra & David Steindl-Rast, O.S.B. with Thomas Matus,
O.S.B. Cam, BELONGING TO THE UNIVERSE: EXPLORATIONS ON
THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY, Harper, 1991, p. 28.]

Comment: Brother David is a very interesting Benedictine monk.
Back when this book was under discussion, Brother David was
spending some time at the Camaldolese monastery at Big Sur,
California. He was interfacing with the world renown Esalen Institute,
located nearby. At the time the physicist Fritjof Capra was working
there. He and Brother David, as well as Thomas Matus--who is a
Camaldolese contemplative--were engaged in a year-long discussion
about the New Cosmology and the New Theology. Eventually their
discussion was published in book form--and it's a real eye-opener,
which no doubt I'll draw upon many times.

But in this quote, I was struck by the above statement that God
and the universe are constantly giving themselves to us. Well,
sometimes I think that they are "giving" more than we can gulp
down.

Currently I am working into a story that I am writing, that includes a
chapter called "Cosmic Contour." My homework for this involves the
various theoretics spinning around amongst the scientific community,
when it comes to the nature of the universe. It's too, too boggling
and occasionally I think that I might as well give-up writing my story.

Just trying to keep up, I not only read into the new cosmic theories
but I also attend cutting-edge lectures by scientists in our community--
a community of a goodly number of Nobel laureates and innovative
scientific establishments. Yesterday, I heard a famous astronomer
discussing the WMAP satellite observations that are "consistent with a
universe made up of 4% "normal" matter, 22% dark matter, and 74%
dark energy. I walked out of the lecture hall somewhat stupefied. I
just could not process the Mystery of it all.

It's bad enough that when they can't explain something theologically,
the priests refer to God as a "Mystery." But in yesterday's lecture the
astronomer, talking of dark matter and dark energy, said such is still
very much a Mystery.

Taking a walk afterwards, I felt unsettled. It's easy to say "this or that"
about God and the universe; but when one starts doing some serious
investigating, it can lead to a Mystery that one cannot readily explain.
So should we stop being explorers? I doubt that we could--it's not in
our human nature to sit around like a glob and not be interested in
those big questions we are always posing.

I can only attest for myself, but those big questions eventually lead to
new answers--whether about God, whether about the universe. So I
guess that I'll just relax a bit and get back on track with my explorations.
Maybe a prayer, all this. But it certainly takes commitment.