Article April 1, 2013 Issue

Beyond matter

Mark Swinney

Have you ever heard physicists online or on TV talk about how all the matter that makes up the universe is primarily open space? The implications of that fact will certainly raise your eyebrows. It means that, if the space between the atomic particles that make up the planet earth were removed, everything remaining would be smaller than the size of a pinhead. The entire earth!

People everywhere—physicists and non-physicists—are thinking deeply about the nature and existence and/or nonexistence of matter. The topic has major implications for just about everything—theology included. In the light of God and prayer, take a look at this statement written by Mary Baker Eddy: “Spirit is infinite; therefore Spirit is all. ‘There is no matter’ is not only the axiom of true Christian Science, but it is the only basis upon which this Science can be demonstrated” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 357).

The thought, or idea, of something is its enduring substance.