Cosmologists theorize that the universe began with a Big Bang, and that two particles, matter and antimatter, were created from the resultant energy. Since the two forms annihilate each other on contact, nothing would exist if the universe were perfectly symmetrical. Since the universe is not perfectly symmetrical, enough matter survived to produce galaxies, stars, and planets. Recent discoveries may correct this violation of symmetry, and give us a clue to a new particle or substance.
Observation of the physical universe is also a look at the structure of the spiritual universe in all its various forms. I call this mental universe the ABSOLUTE, after certain mystics; I can only conceive mind at this proto-stage as a primordial essence--a flux of unthinking matter, unformed and unknown; universal mind that is totally at peace and asleep. Its reality is the substrate and ontological basis of potential thought.
Awakening mind takes form through the physical structures within itself beginning with the energy output of large luminous objects. Here the sleeping giant stirs, and light dispels the empty blackness. At each stage, or level, or hierarchy, represented by clusters, galaxies, and finally to stars, mind is enveloped as entities unique and individual to these structures. As substance it exists in different densities, or rarified states according to its hierarchy. The ultimate and final form of perfect mind in the universe, and most rarified, is in the living beings that inhabit such planets as the Earth. From the quiet, contemplative brooding of mind upon itself to a star's power to create living worlds, `thought is ever the builder'.
Early Western philosophers liked to postulate that reality consisted of five elements instead of four. Besides earth, air, fire, and water, there was a fifth essence they called the aether. Etheric matter was the substance of the soul; ghostly apparitions made themselves known through a hazy vapor. Mind had to be made of something if it was to be explained at all. If there is life after death, then there must be a spiritual world for soul to experience its existence. What is this elusive "stuff"?
Physicists and cosmologists have now made a very interesting discovery--a substance that cannot be seen, or explained. Calculations show that it makes up ninety to ninety-nine percent of the mass of the universe. It must exist to explain galactic rotation and formation in a universe that began with a Big Bang. The traditional view of our MilkyWay galaxy is of a central bulge of many old stars within a thin disc of young stars about 100,000 light-years long. Now evidence suggests that the galaxy is enveloped by a huge sphere of dark matter greater than 300,000 light-years. This means that about eighty percent of our galaxy cannot be seen. Other galaxies spin so fast that were it not for the weight of some unseen mass they would fly apart. Clusters of galaxies can only be explained if the weight of the cluster is more than that of the bright galaxies it contains.
The dark matter theory holds that gravity amplified tiny fluctuations in the distribution of matter in the early universe to produce vast fields of galaxies. Dark matter consists as an unidentified substance that interacts only slightly with ordinary matter. Such particles need to be heavy to provide enough gravitational attraction, and they need to be very aloof. If dark matter took part in chemical or nuclear reactions, their presence would be all too obvious.
One candidate for dark matter is thought to be normal atomic matter tied up in objects smaller than stars but larger than most planets. There could be thousands of dark objects for every star in the galaxy. Called baryonic matter, it consists of large planets, low-mass stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, or even black holes. Since their supposed mass cannot be calculated, they remain only theoretical.
A new possibility is gaining greater attention with research producing a new theoretical particle named the axion. Calculations show that axions could be swarming all around us. They would be incredibly light and almost never interact with other particles. This theory is very attractive because it resolves the missing mass problem while canceling the violation of symmetry. Although there is no way of describing what this substance might be, it could just as well be called the `aether'. Researchers are building axion detectors that may confirm their findings.
Another explanation for dark matter and the formation of large aggregations of galaxies is the revival of equations Einstein worked out in his theory of general relativity more than seventy years ago. The popular view of his time held that the universe was neither expanding or contracting, and Einstein felt the need to introduce an unknown repulsive force to counter the gravitational attraction of mass. This "cosmological constant" was later abandoned with the discovery that the universe was actually expanding. Resurrection of the cosmological constant rests on the assumption that the average mass density of the universe is almost exactly equal to a certain "critical" density, which is the density at which gravity will just barely bring the expansion of the universe to a halt in the far distant future. Thus the vacuum of space itself is endowed with a small energy density. Recent computer simulations tend to confirm the cold dark matter theory. What it is waits for an explanation.38
Could the missing MIND in the universe be cold dark matter? Since it only interacts very weakly with matter, and seems to have an existence apart from matter, the connection is plausible. The physical properties of the human mind compared to mind at the galactic level, as dark matter, are still unknown and not present for physical observation. Yet, the conceptual leap from mind to dark matter is appealing on the ground that science is totally mystified by this strange "stuff," and just as mystified by the strange stuff called Mind.
As I labor within the bounds of logic, and the realm of possibility to understand creation, I cannot accept the idea that Mind is merely a complex of sensory input enabling an organism to grope through its brief existence. Neither can I conceive a God that creates the entire universe out of nothing in seven days. Nor can I accept that the world sits on a plate atop the back of a giant tortoise as believed by some people. So I feel justified hypothesizing what might be the case given what I have presented in this paper. If Mind existed in or even as the timeless proto-universe, unbounded, and undifferentiated at the moment of the Big Bang, then Mind as dark matter was present to and after the great explosion. As the universe cooled and matter formed, the stellar energy of gravity gathered Mind to it and coalesced into logos through its radiation. Mind, thought, intellection gives rise to its self-hood or individuality through the power of physical structures. Although it may exist as pure thought in contemplation, it requires matter in opposition for self-expression. The greatest force in the universe is the most noble in human spirit; Love is the power, and Life the ultimate goal.
Physicists and cosmologists have come close to explaining all the processes in the universe. Called the Grand Unified Theory, or GUT, it unites the forces of gravity, electromagnetism, and two others called the strong force and the weak force. Yet try as they do, they still cannot tidy up their equations to explain the ultimate nature of all reality. The very thing they are using to solve this question is the one single thing they are leaving out. Mind is a physical fact of reality, it cannot be left out of any Grand explanation. I feel certain that the methods of science will ultimately discover Mind on a vast scale within the stars and galaxies of our universe. Not until then will we come to know what we really are.
I find it very strange that the epitome of the human essence is so totally ignored, not only by science but by contemporary psychologists. Carl Jung takes notice when he says:
"All the same, every science is a function of the psyche, and all knowledge is rooted in it. The psyche is the greatest of all cosmic wonders and the sine qua non of the world as an object. It is in the highest degree odd that Western Man, with but very few--and ever fewer exceptions, apparently pays so little regard to this fact. Swamped by the knowledge of external objects, the subject of all knowledge has been temporarily eclipsed to the point of seeming non-existence."39
For science it is easier to think of mind as a product of axons, neurons, and such stuff that makes up the brain--all neatly housed within the skull. If this is the case, then death of the organism confirms death of the psyche; there is no path back from eternal blackness and nothingness.
Copyright © 1992 JohnK Hammelton