Is The Universe Magical?
Who said this planet is Magical? What makes it magical? What does it even mean to say it is magical? And if it is, why don’t people see it as Magical?
Most of us don’t see the universe as magical because we think we already know the story and its ending. Nothing magical about that.
The Movie Example
Imagine standing in line at the movie theatre getting ready to see a movie you are looking forward to. As you are waiting, you hear someone leaving the movie blurt out the ending.
What does that do? It ruins the whole movie for you. What’s the point of seeing it now that you know the ending, No more mystery.
That is precisely the reason we don’t see the universe as magical. We think we know the story and the ending. We have heard it so many times before. We sort of know there was this big explosion that eventually brought everything including humans into existence. That’s it, story ended. Period.
We have heard it so many times we think, so what?
But think back to that movie that was ruined for us. What if we didn’t know the story or its ending? Suppose we never heard those people talking on their way out of the theatre. How would we have then viewed the movie?
We most likely would have loved it, and if it were a great movie it would have kept us on the edge of our seats, guessing on the outcome right up to the surprising ending. Not only that, but there would have been so many unexpected twists and turns that would have amazed us along the way.
The Universe Story as a Movie
That is how we should view the universe story. We think we know the story and we think we know the ending, but do we?
Imagine that we are standing outside a theatre only this time we are going to watch a movie called the Universe Story. Let’s also imagine that we are outside the universe and know nothing about it.
This will be the first time we have ever seen this story. We will watch it unfold just as we watched the drama of the movie we wanted to see unfold. The whole story would be a mystery to us.
The Magic of the Big Bang
First of all, we would have been amazed that out of nothing, something even popped into existence. Where did this something come from? It would be like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat.
Not only that, but we would learn that by “nothing” we mean literally nothing, not even empty space. When something came from nothing it also created the space in which that something could appear.
As we continue to watch this movie, we see tiny particles in the form of matter and anti-matter appear In pairs. Later when they collided they poofed out of existence.
One-billionth More Particles of Matter than Anti-Matter
Fortunately as the universe cooled down, and the particles of matter and anti-matter were wiping each other out, the universe in its infinite wisdom created one-billionth more particles of matter than anti-matter, providing the foundation for everything that came later. After a while those particles would start combining to form newer more complex particles.
The Magic of the Atom
After watching this spectacle for a while, we would have seen something we would refer to as a nucleus form. After several hundred thousand years, it would finally grab another particle called an electron, creating the first atom, the basic building block of the universe. Not only that, but the creation of the atom turned the universe’s appearance from opaque to transparent.
This momentous event occurred because the temperature of the universe and the charges of the nucleus and electrons were magically calibrated to make this event occur. It was as if the universe had planned it all along.
The Magic of the Stars
Then after some billions of years these atoms formed themselves into clumps with other atoms, and these clumps started spinning faster and faster as more atoms were drawn in, creating tighter and tighter configurations.
As we watched this, we knew something exciting was going to happen; we just couldn’t figure out what it could be. Then all of a sudden that tightly bound cluster of atoms reached some critical point and magically lit up, casting its light everywhere. A star had been born out of this clump of swirling atoms.
Then as we watched this process occurring over and over again, we saw that some of these clusters were much larger than others, and we wondered what could that entail.
Over time, these more massive stars exploded, casting their innards in the form of new elements all over the universe, and in the process lit up the entire galaxy in brilliant light.
The Magic of the Earth
As we watched these newly formed particles from the explosions come together, we saw that they created new second-generation stars or suns with planets circling around them. On one of these planets, the particles, elements, and everything was just right for something even more magical to happen.
The Magic of Life
On this planet non-life created life. A cell was born from matter. How did that happen? Was that another rabbit out of a magic hat? Who could have seen that miracle coming?
Next, we watched this cell magically diversify and develop, eventually combining with other cells to become different types of plants and animals. Strangely they seemed meant for each other.
The Magic of the Brain
As these cells continued to diversify and develop they evolved this amazing thing called a nervous system and a brain. In one of these creatures, called humans, they could use this brain to become aware of the whole process that led to their creation, kind of like we are doing now. Was that part of the plan from the beginning? Did we get here from the Big Bang all by accident? If so, very lucky us!
The Magic What Comes Next
We then might have wondered what could be coming next? Where will evolution take us humans? What could the universe still have up its sleeve for our development? It is hard to imagine. Almost as hard to believe as something coming from nothing or life emerging from non-life.
Surely the story couldn’t just stop developing with humans. That wouldn’t make any sense. The show must go on as it is getting more and more interesting with each new development. Nobody would end a movie just as the action is growing more intense.
No, this story is on-going and the universe appears endlessly creative, so we can hardly wait to see what the universe creates next.
It’s Our Time to Create Magic
Only now as we sit watching this movie unfold, we begin to get this strange feeling that we are not just passive observers of this unfolding story, but are now active participants.
The camera, which has shown us the story as we sat and ate our popcorn in wondrous awe, now turns on us and shows us sitting there. It slowly dawns us that we are the next act in this developing story. We are now the actors on the stage and it is time for us to give the performance of our lives as we team up with the universe to create the next beautiful act in this movie.
