CHAPTER 1
In The Beginning ...
In the beginning was God. God was all there was, andGod remembered no beginning and could envision noend to himself.
God began to recognize a feeling within himself, andhe called this feeling loneliness. This was an uncomfortablefeeling, and God began to ponder ways in which he couldbe free of this feeling.
God opened a space within himself and, within themidst of this space, he spoke a Word. An explosion tookplace, and we call this explosion The Big Bang. Thus beganthe universe as we know it. This universe is contained withinthe bubble which God opened within himself. We will callit a reality bubble. It is possible that there are other realitybubbles, but we are aware of only this one. In the future, wemay be able to discover whether or not other reality bubblesexist, other universes like or unlike our own, but for now wewill content ourselves with exploring our own.
God infused the space within himself with matter/energy and with part of his own consciousness. That partof his consciousness which is within the reality bubble, wecall the Immanent Godhead. That part which is without,we call the Transcendent Godhead.
As the matter/energy exploded outward from thecenter of the bubble God had created within himself,consciousness went with it. Matter/energy fused withspace and became what I call the spacetime matrix. Thespacetime matrix, or matrix for short, is pervaded with theconsciousness of the Immanent Godhead.
Some physicists have realized that subatomic particleshave an elementary form of consciousness, but most havenot. This is entirely understandable, since science as awhole has not known what to do with consciousness duringthe entirety of its brief life. Science has, for the most part,chosen to believe that mind and matter are two entirelydifferent things and that scientists must restrict theirresearch to the material world. This, of course, has onlydelayed the inevitable. For centuries, consciousness wasrelegated to theologians and, more recently, psychologists.The study of the so-called hard sciences such as physicsand chemistry was reserved for those intellectuals who hadno interest in the messiness of the human psyche or God.
This was not always the case. Many of the great earlyscientists such as Isaac Newton were devoutly religiousand were attempting to discover the laws of the naturalworld as created by God. Newton is regarded as one of thetwo greatest scientists in the history of science, the secondbeing Albert Einstein. Einstein also believed in God,though he believed that God had created the universeand then stepped away, allowing it to progress accordingto the laws he had incorporated into it. This is a form ofDeism and is a partial truth. It seems that most modernscientists, however, and physicists especially, are eitheratheists or agnostics. Some are vehemently opposed to anysuggestion that God even exists, let alone that he createdthe universe or has an ongoing relationship with it. We willsee, however, that theists, atheists and agnostics all have aplace in God's world.
CHAPTER 2
The Fabric Of The Universe
The fabric of the universe is the spacetime matrix.Matter/energy and spacetime intertwine to createthis elementary matrix. The matrix is discreteor discontinuous due to its particle nature. This is whatmakes spacetime a quantum process. This quantumprocess is associated with consciousness, however, and istherefore also continuous. In his book The Dancing Wu LiMasters (2007), Gary Zukav quotes physicist E.H. Walkeras follows: "Consciousness may be associated with allquantum mechanical processes ... since everything thatoccurs is ultimately the result of one or more quantummechanical events, the universe is inhabited by analmost unlimited number of rather discrete, conscious,usually non-thinking entities that are responsible for thedetailed working of the universe." These "entities" arethe subatomic particles which comprise the quantum (orenergic) flux. Since matter is energy, the quantum flux plusEinstein's spacetime continuum comprises the spacetimematrix, along with the Immanent Godhead.
Matrix theory can be classified as a quantum fieldtheory. The matrix as a whole is the primary quantumfield which is comprised of all lesser fields. Many of ourcomments about the spacetime matrix can be derivedfrom the ramifications of a quote by the father of quantumtheory, physicist Max Planck. He is quoted by authorGregg Braden in The Divine Matrix as follows: "All matteroriginates and exists only by virtue of a force ... We mustassume behind this force the existence of a conscious andintelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter(Braden, 2007)."
Though I decided on the use of the term matrix beforebecoming aware of Braden's book and this quote fromPlanck, I was happy to find confirmation that others sharedat least some of the conceptualizations which comprise theCyclic God Hypothesis. As we continue, we will discoverconcepts from many other individuals which supportour thesis. Some of these individuals are well known andhighly respected scientists, and some are mystics. Thereader may perhaps be surprised (and potentially pleased)to hear that I'll be quoting mystics. Atheistic scientistswould be appalled by any suggestion that mysticism is anecessary tool for any fully formed understanding of theuniverse. Mysticism, as defined by Webster's New WorldDictionary, is the "belief in the possibility of attainingdirect communion with God or knowledge of spiritualtruths, as by meditation." It is the process of attainingthat knowledge, the knowledge itself and the actual state ofcommunion. Anyone who has read Dr. Fritjof Capra's TheTao of Physics (1999) is aware of the similarities betweendescriptions of the mystical experience and concepts ofquantum physics.
I would define mysticism as the process of, andknowledge obtained by, direct contact between afocal manifestation of the Immanent Godhead and theTranscendent Godhead. This contact brings reminders ofwho we really are.
Returning now to Gregg Braden's book, The DivineMatrix, we find intriguing comments by the authorconcerning his definition of the Matrix, as follows: "Thereis a field of energy that connects all of creation. This fieldplays the role of a container, a bridge, and a mirror for thebeliefs within us. The field is nonlocal and holographic.Every part of it is connected to every other, and each piecemirrors the whole on a smaller scale. We communicatewith the field through the language of emotion (2007)."
Upon reading Braden's account of the qualities of hisDivine Matrix, I almost concluded that The Cyclic GodHypothesis did not need to be written. As I continuedthrough the book, however, I realized that he wasaddressing a different set of issues related to the matrix:namely, how to access the matrix for healing. I, on the otherhand, am addressing the origin, structure and developmentof the matrix as it relates to the motives of the Godhead.And there are differences in our conception of the matrixitself. Therefore, I decided to write this book. I'd begun toresearch topics such as relativity theory, quantum theoryand mysticism in 2002, when I began to write down myideas about the Cyclic God Hypothesis. The outline of thetheory had taken form when I was an eighteen year oldfreshman at Cornell University. I'd had minimal contactwith formal works on religion, philosophy and physics atthat time. I had had extensive contact with science fictionworks since age twelve and I'd had a profound "mystical"experience of unitive consciousness while discussingthe problem of human perception with a friend while asophomore at Cornell.
That experience provided proof for me that we were allpart of one organism and led immediately to the writing ofa book of mystical poetry entitled Forty-Two Fragments ofUniverse. The Cyclic God concept informed the poetry.
By the time I'd finished writing Forty-Two Fragments,my desire to write about the Cyclic God ideas hadbeen temporarily satiated. I did, however, take note ofconfirmatory experiences and readings over the ensuingyears leading up to 2002, when I finally decided to writea book on the fleshed out version of my concepts. Thatnotebook was lost. I began the process anew in July of2007. The fabric of my personal universe has become thefabric of this book.
CHAPTER 3
The Cyclic God Hypothesis
In this chapter I WILL give an outline of two differentversions of the Cyclic God Hypothesis. One is a freewill scenario and the second is a deterministic scenario.This will allow the reader to more readily understand thepoints I'll be making as we proceed through the book.In this chapter I'll be going into detail about the physicalprocesses involved. In this and subsequent chapters I willbe quoting from the books found in my bibliography, allof which are excellent and highly recommended. Thosequotes will clarify the quantum theoretical background forunderstanding CGH in detail.
As stated previously, God made a decision to open aspace within himself and to create the physical universewithin that space. This is another of the many ideas whichI formulated on my own, only to discover later that it hasprecursors. In this case, the first formulation of the ideathat I've been able to discover comes from the history ofJewish mysticism, specifically the Kabbalah, as interpretedby Isaac Luria centuries ago. This may be an example ofthe independent development of similar ideas as a resultof intuition into the actual state of the TranscendentGodhead, given that Luria was also a mystic. That, ofcourse, is why core mystical ideas (gnostic concepts)are nearly identical across centuries and cultures. TheTranscendent Godhead has allowed us to reach out to himand discover his personality.
The Big Bang occurs and matter/energy explodesoutward in all directions from the center of the realitybubble. As the universe cools, atoms and molecules form.Clouds of gas form galaxies and solar systems withinthose galaxies. Solar systems are typically composed ofstars, planets and moons. Ours also has an asteroid belt(possibly a destroyed planet). Galaxies form clusters andsuper-clusters. As planets cool, some generate life. I chooseto believe that life is formed according to the instructionsof the Creator, the Transcendent Godhead. This couldtake place in a number of different ways, and I will bepresenting my opinion concerning the most probablemeans of achieving that end as we progress.
It is obvious, of course, that no one really knows whattook place all of those eons ago. Common sense tells usthat we rarely know with any certainty what took placelast year, let alone decades, centuries, millennia, or billionsof years ago. Specialists in any given scientific disciplineare simply giving us their best educated guesses about howthe universe, our particular world, and any given processin our world developed. And I will give you my guesses,bolstered by speculations from scientific and mysticalspecialists.
In scenario one, the free will scenario, and notnecessarily at the very beginning of the physical process,consciousness in a limited form flowed into the creation. Ibelieve that physicist E. H. Walker is right in stating thatsubatomic particles have rudimentary consciousness. Inthis free will scenario, matter/energy is conscious, thoughnot necessarily self-conscious.
These focal manifestations (condensed, limited formsof the Immanent Godhead or Universal Consciousness)move through the spacetime matrix, having experiencesfor God. In fact, the purpose of all focal manifestations(FMs) is to alleviate God's loneliness by having experiencesfor God. You are one of the billions of ways in whichGod can have a human experience. Lest I be accused ofheresy, let me point out that the Jewish and ChristianBibles, along with the Koran and probably numerousother primary religious texts, state that humans are madein God's image. This necessitates the conclusion that Godhas thoughts, emotions and behaviors. This may seemto be stating the obvious, but the obvious sometimes(oddly) needs to be stated. If nothing else, it brings thesefacts to immediate consciousness. It should also be notedthat God needs to empty himself of the qualities whichmanifest his transcendent essence, namely omniscience,omnipotence and omnipresence, in order to take on thequalities of a focal manifestation. This is, of course, avoluntary process initiated specifically in order to haveexperiences which he could not have had while in theTranscendent state.
I should state that I choose to follow traditionalistChristian faith. This is the belief system with whichI am most comfortable. It is one of a great many basicreligious belief systems currently available on this planet.All of these systems are examples of Special ScientificPanentheism. In the evangelical Christian belief system(with which I have some disagreements), Jesus of Nazareth,called the Christ or Messiah (anointed one), is believed tobe the one and only Son of God. But Jesus was situatedin specific spacetime coordinates (was not omnipresent),admitted that he did not know everything that God theFather knew (was not omniscient), and gave no evidenceof omnipotence (was sometimes unable to achieve mightyworks – Matthew 13:57-58). The Bible tells us that God(the Father, the Transcendent Godhead) had emptiedhimself (Philippians 2:6-8) in order to be the Christ. Inthe Christian belief system, we are said to be brothers andsisters of Christ and sons and daughters of God. To me it isobvious that this is so because the Transcendent Godheademptied himself in order to become ALL focal manifestations(conscious beings), including Jesus. In relation to theCyclic God Hypothesis, we would say that God infusedpart of himself into the spacetime matrix (the creation),thus limiting himself and rendering himself capable ofhaving an almost infinite number of experiences whichwere unavailable to him as the Transcendent Godhead.
All of these experiences are associated with the livesof FMs (focal manifestations) located within our knownuniverse or reality bubble. All of the focal manifestations(humans, dolphins, sea horses, planets, stars, molecules,etc.) are located at a series of specific quantum spacetimecoordinates. All are therefore finite. In CGH-1, the firstCyclic God Hypothesis scenario, these FMs live in a trulydynamic universe. This is a result of the fact that thephysical universe is evolving in time and consciousness ismoving out into space with all of the matter/energy. Thematter/energy field entwines with space over time as theuniverse evolves.
Newton intuited God's creation of the spacetimematrix without intuiting the purpose of that creation. Dr.Capra captures this insight in the following quote fromNewton's magnum opus, Philosophiae Naturalis PrincipiaMathematica: "It seems probable to me that God in thebeginning formed matter in solid, movable particles, ofsuch sizes and figures, and with such other properties, andin such proportions to space, as most conduced to the endfor which he formed them (Newton, 1687)."
Newton was aware or believed that God created thephysical universe, unlike many atheistic or agnostic"modern" scientists, but was unable or unwilling to deducethe true purpose of the matrix. This purpose is to be foundin the motives of the Transcendent Godhead itself, andtherefore does not vary with differences in belief amongFMs within the matrix. In other words, some things donot change no matter what we believe about them. This willfigure importantly in our forthcoming discussions aboutbeliefs, metabeliefs, and the function of the spacetimematrix. Let it suffice to say at this point that many thingswithin our reality bubble do change with changes in belief.The existence and function of the spacetime matrix doesnot change.
You will recall that the matrix is comprised of thequantum flux (which is an ocean of conscious energyparticles) and the spacetime continuum.
The matrix possesses the quality of being discontinuousin its particle nature and continuous in its field nature. Thiscontinuity is a result of the presence of the consciousnessof the Immanent Godhead.
The waves of the electromagnetic spectrum are madepossible by this continuous ocean of particles whichpervades all space and entwines with it. There is no"empty" space!
Support for this view comes from Einstein himself.Though he had done away with the concept of the etherin his 1905 paper on Special Relativity, he realized aftercompleting his 1915 paper on General Relativity that thegravitational potentials in that theory served as a mediumwhich could transmit disturbances through "empty" space.Walter Isaacson, in his definitive biography of Einsteinpublished this year (2007), quotes Einstein from a lecturegiven in Leiden in 1920 as follows: "We may assumethe existence of an ether. To deny the ether is ultimatelyto assume that empty space has no physical qualitieswhatever. The fundamental facts of mechanics do notharmonize with this view. According to the general theoryof relativity, space is endowed with physical qualities; inthis sense, there exists an ether. Space without ether isunthinkable (Isaacson, 2007)."
