As we were chatting in Gary’s hospital room yesterday morning, waiting for a visit from his surgeon after the previous night’s brain biopsy procedure, our free-flowing discussion turned momentarily to matter and energy. (As an aside: Preliminary biopsy results confirmed brain cancer so that whole journey is now beginning.)

Gary is both a very gifted nuclear physicist (now retired) and a practicing Christian, which puts him in a minority in that field but not by any means a minuscule minority. Professionally, he helped replicate the fusion features of the sun in order to understand the nature of small bits of matter and energy. Fusion science is fascinating to me, although mostly way beyond my mental grasp.

Anyway, we were having a conversation about things called “dark matter” and “dark energy.” Long story about why we were talking about this. I was initially inclined to address these two things specifically on these pages but I think I won’t go there in any detail.

So, why bring it up?

Well, to make an extremely complex topic very simple, scientists believe that all of the observable mass and energy in the universe is but a small fraction of what’s really out there, hence the word “dark” for the stuff we can’t directly observe. When you think about it, for instance, there’s a whole lot of mass out there (let’s just say physical stuff), like maybe hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars, for starters. But, if that’s only a small fraction of the actual physical stuff, then that raises some extra questions. For scientists who think about these kinds of things, this is very important. Why is it important for the rest of us?

One reason is that this kind of thing must humble us. We should already be humbled to think about how we fit into the reality of all things, when taken against the vast nature of our complex universe. Add the fact that what we see is just a smaller piece of the whole thing, and I, for one, have to at least momentarily hit the pause button.

But another reason is the thing that prompted me to write this.

And that is how we approach a thing that we seem to be able to detect for a variety of reasons but actually can’t see or completely understand.

So, Gary was explaining how scientists have come to believe (even prove, given what they know) that dark matter and energy exist. In fact, the nature of galaxies would not be possible without their presence. Things like how galaxies actually hold together. The observable gravitational forces just aren’t close to being strong enough. I had known this to some extent because I occasionally find myself reading the science pages. But, what struck me this morning as I was reflecting back on yesterday’s conversation is how we practice our faith and belief systems in a similar fashion.

The scientists who study these cosmological and astrophysical forces so closely have come to know that these invisible things are present because of the effects and influence they have on the things that are visible. This, of course, leads to all sorts of debates and theories about what exactly is going on, without anyone just flat sitting down, relaxing and saying something like “I got it. I get the whole picture, signed sealed and delivered.”

Scientists seem very fine with this and so should we.

I spend a lot of time on these pages talking about things like belief, faith and knowledge. I also spend a lot of time talking about the things that we can observe in this world of ours and how they are evidence of things largely unseen. One of the great critiques of those who object to the notion of God is that he/it cannot be proven. (Of course, just as clearly, no one can prove the non-existence of God!)

I have thought about the nature of all of that invisible matter and energy and I find it fascinating. (I may be in a small minority in that sense.) I like the fact that there are worlds beyond the scope of our current powers of observation but I also like the fact that we have senses to detect things and minds that can reason about what those things are and what they may mean for us.

What kinds of things can we point to that suggest that there is a supernatural reality to all things or not? What kinds of evidence can we detect that suggest that there is or is not an actual God or that Jesus actually did or did not exist or, if he did, was his purported take on things reasonably accurate or reasonably inaccurate?

I find myself like a sponge many a day, collecting bits and pieces of data … perhaps mostly on a subconscious (dark?) level that inform how I approach this life I find myself in and what it all means. What a wondrous thing that is!

So, carry on you cosmologists and astrophysicists. Keep looking for the clues that help us to understand this vast reality. I’ll be doing the same. Blessings.