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Here are some well-known, established scientific facts compared to the spiritual knowledge found in the 1800s.
1. The non-existence of absolute rest. This is a well-understood consequence of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: the final temperature of zero Kelvin is impossible to reach. In other words, nothing remains at rest, and motion defines all things:
Divine and all-encompassing - Wisdom hath ordained that motion be an inseparable concomitant of existence, whether inherently or accidentally, spiritually or materially. – Abdu'l Baha, Tablet of the Universe, provisional translation.
2. The non-existence of a void. Current quantum field theory stipulates no empty space. Scientists now know that freedom is not open; it is a field from which particles pop in and out of existence. Actually, a vacuum can never reach absolute zero energy, which means no void can possibly exist:
..a void is impossible and inconceivable. – Ibid.
3. A non-physical continuum mediates the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Scientists call this intangible reality the quantum field, while the Baha’i teachings call it the ether:
Even the ether, the forces of which are said in natural philosophy to be heat, light, electricity and magnetism, is an intelligible and not a sensible reality. – Abdu'l Baha, Some Answered Questions, newly revised edition, pp. 93-94.
4. This continuum gives rise to both matter and electromagnetism. Science now understands that the “solid objects” we think of as real and the electromagnetic fields we can measure have no actual existence. The Baha’i teachings agree:
… the substance and primary matter of contingent beings is the ethereal power, which is invisible and only known through its effects, such as electricity, heat, and light — these are vibrations of that power, and this is established and proven in natural philosophy and is known as the ethereal substance. – Abdu'l Baha from a tablet of , provisional translation by Keven Brown.
5. Gravity drives stellar formation. We now understand that the force of gravity, long thought of as simply a force of attraction, actually plays a significant role in the creation of the universe itself:
By the operation of this attractive force those holy and resplendent suns, with their luminous worlds, satellites and planets, circling and orbiting in their heavens, at once exerted attraction and were subject to it, induced motion and were themselves moved, began orbiting and set into orbit other bodies, shone forth and caused others to shine. – Abdu'l Baha, Tablet of the Universe, provisional translation.
6. The universe originated from a singularity. Because of the cosmic microwave background in space and because the universe continues to expand, most scientists now believe that a single body—a singularity—once contained all mass, energy, and spacetime. Compressed to an infinitely dense point, that initial singularity gave birth to our universe:
When He purposed to call the new creation into being, He sent forth the Manifest and Luminous Point from the horizon of His Will … – Abdu'l Baha
References:
- Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Baha’u’llah, p. 101.
- Abdu’l-Baha
- Wikipedia
Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School
