Many spiritual traditions have viewed everything in the universe as part of an interconnected web of energy. Now, certain scientific ideas hint that everything is energy.

Throughout history, humans have believed in various religious and spiritual traditions. Many of these beliefs include an element of the unseen, something more than the reality we see before our eyes. These different energies have been called soul, spirit, qi, life force, and various other names. Basically, there was a widespread belief that everything is energy, or at least that consciousness flows through everything.

Newtonian Physics

These widespread beliefs were challenged at the end of the seventeenth century when Newtonian physics became the cornerstone of science. This new science described a set of physical laws that affect the motion of bodies under the influence of a system of forces.

It perceived the universe as a sort of clockwork model. Even us humans were simply complex machines. Only what could be perceived with the senses and measured by scientific instruments was real. The rest was just made-up nonsense the old-fashioned beliefs of primitive, uneducated people.

The New Science

In the 1900s, beliefs changed again with the beginnings of quantum physics. This new science accepts that the universe, including us, is made up of energy, not matter.

Quantum mechanics arose from Max Planck’s solution in 1900 to the black-body radiation problem. It was also influenced by Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper which offered a quantum-based theory to explain the photoelectric effect. The theory was further developed in the mid-1920s by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, and Max Born among others.

Quantum Physics

Quantum physics suggests that solid matter does not exist in the universe. Atoms are not solid, in fact, they have three different subatomic particles inside them: protons, neutrons, and electrons.

The protons and neutrons are packed together into the center of the atom, while the electrons whizz around the outside. The electrons move so quickly that we never know exactly where they are from one moment to the next.

In reality, the atoms that form objects and substances that we call solid are actually made up of 99.99999% space.

And, as everything is made of atoms, which are energy, this could mean that everything is made up of energy. The energy that makes you is the same energy that composes trees, rocks, the chair you are sitting on, and the phone, computer, or tablet you are using to read this article. It’s all made of the same stuff – energy.

This has been demonstrated time and time again by multiple Nobel Prize-winning physicists, including Niels Bohr, a Danish Physicist who made significant contributions to the understanding of quantum theory.

“If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet. Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”

– Niels Bohr

This new science has some very weird implications for what we believe about the world.

The Observer Effect

Physicists have found that observation of quantum phenomena can actually change the measured result. The 1998 Weizmann experiment is a particularly famous example. It found that

‘One of the most bizarre premises of quantum theory, which has long fascinated philosophers and physicists alike, states that by the very act of watching, the observer affects the observed reality’

This strange phenomenon suggests not only that everything is energy, but that this energy responds to consciousness.

Entanglement

Entanglement is another weird aspect of quantum physics. It states that once particles have interacted, they become “entangled,”. No matter how far apart they are, if scientists change the spin state of one entangled electron, it’s partner’s spin state will change in the opposite direction in response.

And this happens instantaneously, even if they’re a million light-years apart. They are connected by energy that permeates everything.

This theory of entanglement stems from the work of Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg, among others.

Implicate Order

A rather mind-blowing theory by American theoretical physicist David Bohm suggests that the universe is made up of both an explicate and an implicate order. His model suggests that the entire universe and every particle in it comprises an explicate order resulting from active information contained energetically in an underlying implicate order.

This suggests that everything that exists contains the information of everything else that exists. The information of the entire universe is contained energetically in every single cell.

Closing Thoughts

Most of us were brought up to believe in a Newtonian theory of science. This means many of us have trouble believing in something that cannot be seen or measured.

Quantum physics offers a very different view. It suggests that everything is energy. It also shows how weirdly this energy can behave.

While I can’t claim to understand it completely, it does open my mind to a perception of the universe as more than a clockwork model or complex machine.


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This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. accelerator

    Since everything that exists is in motion.. in some form or other.. doesn’t reason suggest that motion could be fundamental? What is still missing in physics is a concept of a Primary Field that connects everything together. . meaning.. the entire multi-verse.. IF it exists… can be reduced down to a single field of energy that is infinite and eternal…
    This PRIMARY Field serves as a theatre for the multi-verse to exist in. When a universe pops into existence.. it borrows its energy from the Primary Field… and then the energy gradually returns back to dormant energy… by means of entropy. . over trillions of years..

    Most of the Primary Field consists of energy in a dormant.. (or potential)… state..
    In fact… EVERYTHING is ENERGY… Energy is an absolute…. NON EXISTENCE IS A FICTION.. It does not exist)… Energy is either active.. or dormant… meaning everything is something…

    However.. physics cannot detect dormant energy… and therefore labels it – NON EXISTENT. Nevertheless.. it would seem… EVERYTHING that exists is simply an activity in the Primary Field… INCLUDING OUR OWN CONSCIOUSNESS …
    Physics is the science that detects and describes this activity.

    The energy flows like an ocean .. because MOTION is fundamental.. AND FROM THIS FLOW.. WE GET the ENERGY… that we detect as FIELD ACTIVITY (particles and waves.. etc)…….. All the fields and activities… in physics are diversifications of this single Primary Field…

    Material things have a beginning and an end.. but the Primary Field has no beginning.. and no end… because it is not subject to space- time.. yet it exists both outside.. and inside.. space-time……. Space time is the fabric of the universe.. beyond it is NON-EXISTENCE – (OR DORMANT ENERGY)
    This idea is not new.. it is ancient…. It has historically been represented by religious symbols like – GOD – TAO… ATMAN.. BRAHMAN… etc.. When we need to think in terms of – The WHOLE BEING GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS…..

    In science EVERYTHING that exists can be summed by a concept of a single Primary Field…. meaning… an Infinite amount of energy.. expressing itself in the form of a process… having an Infinite diversity… that neither has a beginning or an end… At least.. this concept is consistent with existing ideas in today’s physics..

    – David Bohm said.. concerning entanglement…. … “The ordinary world view is one which we could call – mechanism – in which the world is made of separate entities.. such as particles.. which.. when they are far apart.. they do not greatly effect each other. Then.. they interact strongly when they are close together. Now.. if they do effect each other far apart.. you can always explain it by a field.. such as light.. which would carry the effect through space.
    In this case.. we have a connection between these particles that is not carried by any such field.. and which may go over long distances. (NOTE – I disagree with Bohm.. there is a field.. but in existing physics.. this Primary Field concept is still missing from the big picture)
    Now.. this suggests that the world is not made of separate elements.. but rather.. if you follow it through.. that the world is one whole.. one unbroken whole.. that it is possible to have all these things connected together over very long distances into a whole.. which is not analysable into parts. Both quantum mechanics and relativity suggest that the world is not made of separate elements.. but it is unbroken whole and flowing movement.

    The image of that would be flowing water.. If you had vortexes in this water.. each vortex may be thought of as separate.. but in reality they merge together.. there is never any separation. Now.. that is one image.. but this experimental aspect deals with a still more fundamental wholeness.. in the sense that things that are far apart are still related.. deeply.. or may be related deeply.. in a way which is quiet foreign to classical or mechanistic concepts.”

  2. Jack Finegold

    Very interesting stuff! One thought – evolution and soul are not mutually exclusive. If you believe in a higher being (g.d) it certainly is feasible that evolution could be his building blocks to existence.

  3. HappyFungus

    Great article! I disagree with two points though. Observing in quantum physics means measuring something, and measurement inevitably changes the measured system. Measurement does not mean that a human measures it – conciousness plays no role here, so I disagree with the conclusion that it suggests that energy responds to conciousness. There is for example a vector property of particles called ‘spin’. As long as this property is not measured it is in a superposition. Measurement in this case happens when the particle is immersed in a magnetic field. The spin itself creates a magnetic field and interacting with the external mangetic field this results in a force acting on the particle. This leads to the measurement of one component of the spin vector, because a force means that the particle is accelerated and the component of the spin parallel to the magnetic field is responsible for the direction and magnitude of the acceleration – thus it gets measured (Spin is a 3d vector, and only one component is measured. Interestingly, due to Heisenbergs uncertainty relation, it is impossible to measure two or more components of the spin). Conciousness is not part of the measurement though. And in general, watching something is not as passive as it seems. Even if you watch a car passing by you, what you see are the many photons which get reflected by the car and are captured by your eyes. The brain processes the information and you can estimate the velocity of the car based on the photons you see. However, the photons interact with the car and slightly – though absolutely neglilibly – change the velocity of the car.

    Entanglement does not work exactly like that. If scientiest would change the spin of some particle by force, the entanglement will be lost. It is just the passive change of observing / measuring the spin which has an effect of the entangled particle. Otherwise it would be easily possible to transmit information at speeds higher than light – and entanglement (at least to my knowledge) does not allow that. Why does the former not violate the speed limit of information? The spin of the particle is in a superposition prior to measurement, and you do not know which state it will fall in when you measure it. So by measuring, scientists can neither predict nor influence the result of measurement – and that also means that no information can be transmitted because the outcome is random.

  4. Nikola Milovic

    From all this, it is clear that science does not know the organization of the universe, and they confused consciousness, indeterminate, complexity, gravity, magnetism, energy, and there is nothing in them that can be explained in a natural way.
     Here’s what you all need to know and accept:
     -university is a two-entrant. The main, creative and governing entity is the Spiritual Entity of the Universe (SEU), which is the immense power of forming everything that is obtained from the substance Aether, which fills the infinite universe. From this substance, matter is formed in two states, which with Aether have a common bond and action, and it is manifested as gravity and magnetism.
     The other entity is the Material Energy Entity of the Universe (MEEU), which is all composed of matter and energy.
    -Mi, human beings, as the last patent of SEU, and we are two entity entities: our SEU is Soul, and MEEU is the body.
    Because science does not understand this and does not understand it, it invents nebuloses and various theories in order to conceal ignorance and not accept the existence of a SEU. Most scientists want to invent some unnatural, illogical, and stupid name and phenomenon, in order for him to become the one who governs the universe. These are people without consciousness, because awareness is the power to recognize the true causes of the phenomenon in the universe, and those who believe and respect the existence of the SEU have it.
    All those scientific nebulozekkao: complexity, fabric, the spread of the universe, the lack of gravity and matter and other nonsense, are the consequences of ignorance of the law of motion and of those who form these movements.
    Much of this can be said and destroyed in most of the theories that are fatamorgans ignorant of the organization of the universe.

  5. Abigail

    For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, … 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist

  6. Terry

    Great article, I enjoyed it very much! First time I was able to classify myself as a Newtonian Physics believer, yet open to new theories;~)

  7. charles sayles

    Great article

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