**I feel the need to clarify that the majority of this post was written when we first moved to Nashville and I was not nursing a newborn...
"Let's drink tequila and talk about the universe."
This is how I wish I could make friends in my new city. When I see that girl with sick dreadlocks making amazing watercolors in the corner of the cafe or pass the cool moms at the farmer's market whose kids dress better than I do...I wish I could skip the whole introduction/small talk/feel each other out and get right to the point.
So what do you think about God's interaction with the space time continuum?
Or maybe it's a lack of interaction.
Margarita?
I really feel like this would expedite the selection process. I'm in kind of a niche market here.
There's something about moving to a new place that makes you try to observe and summarize yourself. To create a tidy category for potential friends, coworkers, employers to settle you into. I picture myself as one of those computer generated word clouds, with all of my ingredients and passions and interests stacked into gathered font sizes:
(( Creative. Boston. Mom. Jesus. Writing. Cheese. Acne cream. Collective Conscious. Sarcasm. SNL. Lamott. Dillard. Beuchner. Ron Swanson. poetry. potty training. Smartfood. Yoga. Wormholes. Essential Oils. Steaksgiving. Mr. Robot. Quantum entanglement. Peppa Pig. Bone Broth. Bob Ross... ))
But all I can say is that I am the type of person who wants to drink tequila and talk about the universe. It's the best category I can provide anyone with.
It's not uncommon for me to stay up until 3 AM on some sort of nerdy research bender. I start off with an innocuous question ("What is lucid dreaming?") and before I know it, I'm deep in the hyperlink rabbithole, watching a two hour Youtube video on string theory. And even when my baby girl toddles into my room at six am and grabs my face and says "Hi Shaboom" I really have no regrets because DAMN WE LIVE A FASCINATING EXISTENCE.
In the aforementioned Youtube video, an Asian man with a gorgeous mane of silver hair attempts to explain the eleven dimensions.
Yup, there are theoretically eleven dimensions. 11-D.
He is one of those people who is so incredibly intelligent that even his dumbed-down metaphorical explanations confounded me-- but he did say one thing that I keep thinking about. It was just lovely.
He is trying to explain the basics of a "multiverse" -- an arena of multidimensional universes which he describes as bubbles of varying sizes, floating around. Without complicating it too much, he says that these universes - or bubbles- are able to grow and vibrate. He explains that the vibrations create what could be described as music. And then he says that he and all of the geniuses who speak in this shorthand for a living wonder if the subatomic 'music' these vibrating 'universe bubbles' make - the beautiful intangibility of it all - is what Einstein referred to as The Mind of God.
So...
The Mind of God - as best as our brightest minds can describe it - is like cosmic music resonating throughout vibrating hyperspace.
That's beautiful to me. That thrills me to my very core.
((Now I'm sure my more intellectual friends will facepalm at everything I just wrote. I'm sure I have butchered even basic physics. I'm sure I sound like the girl who comes back from the symphony and talks about the concession stand nachos. BUT STILL.))
Am I the only one who gets a thrill when these two realms - Science and Spirit - are able to not only coexist but to complement...enhance...even explain each other?
---
They say that your vibe attracts your tribe. And as I transition from Boston -- land of the intellectuals and the Puritans-- to Nashville, all Bible-belted, sweet and slow, I'm trying to find my category. My convenient pigeonhole. My vibe.
And I guess this is it. This is what I like to do. I believe so deeply in Jesus Christ and His work. The actual historical example He set and the more mystical work of the Spirit He left with us. I respect so deeply the many mysteries found in His divine interaction with our finite particles. I believe there's a way that our deepening understanding of and theorizing about the universe can not only coexist with our vibrant and stalwart faith-- but enhance it. In fact, I believe it can be our very best and humbling worship.
So here's the first in a series of posts about such things. I'm no physicist or theologian. But HEY MAN - most of us aren't. All the more reason for us to dive in and explore.
As Mr. Rogers taught us: It is good to be curious about many things.
So until next time, friends.
*clinking margarita emoji*