Bill Harkins
Quantum Entanglement, Higgs Bosun, Gabriel Marcel, and Holy Family!
Well, I’ve done it again! Against all odds, another Notes from the Trail! Still, as I drove to the Cathedral Counseling Center early on Monday morning, I was filled with gratitude for all of you, and I wanted to say “Thank you”! Thank you for all that you did to make this a memorable Holy Week in every way, from adapting to safe practices on Palm Sunday with grace and good humor, to services each and every day during Holy Week, especially Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and a glorious morning on Easter beginning with the Vigil and on to our lovely service at 10:30. Thanks to everyone from Hospitality and the Altar and Flower Guilds, to our amazing Digital Ministry and our Verger and LEM crew! A deep bow of gratitude for my dear colleagues Katharine and Byron, our incredible choir & friends, led by John King Carter, and even the newest iteration of our Bell Choir! Thank you all! Yes, indeed, we are all connected to one another, and in the breaking of the Bread, we too become the Body of Christ, sent out to do that good work to which we are called. At table, we find ourselves experiencing God’s grace, and joy, in wonderful and surprising ways. We welcome all to our Table, including Caroline and her guest, Gerald the Giraffe:
In Quantum physics, we know that elementary particles gain mass through interactions with the “Higgs field.” Similarly, the Higgs boson gains mass in the same way. It is called the “God Particle” because it is the basis of the formation of atoms and keeping the universe in order. Without the Higgs field, particles wouldn’t have mass, and the universe, as we know it, wouldn’t exist.
Richard Rohr reminds us that just as different ways of interpreting scripture and various types of truth (e.g., literal vs. mythic) are valuable for different purposes, so scientific theories have different applications while seeming to be paradoxical and irreconcilable. For example, we have the Newtonian theory of gravity, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and quantum theory. Physicists know that each of them is true, yet they don’t always fit together, and each is limited and partial. Newtonian mechanics can’t model or predict the behavior of massive or quickly moving objects. Relativity does this well, but doesn’t apply to very, very small things. Quantum mechanics succeeds on the micro level. But we don’t yet have an adequate theory for understanding very small, very energetic, very massive phenomenon, such as black holes. Scientists are still in search of a unified theory of the universe.
Perhaps the term “quantum entanglement” names something that we have long intuited, but science has only recently observed. Here is the principle in layperson’s terms: in the world of quantum physics, it appears that one particle of any entangled pair “knows” what is happening to another paired particle—even though there is no known means for such information to be communicated between the particles, which are separated by sometimes very large distances. As Richard Rohr asks, could this be what is happening when we “pray” for somebody? Scientists don’t know how far this phenomenon applies beyond very rare particles, but quantum entanglement hints at a universe where everything is in relationship, in communion, and where that communion can be resisted (“sin”). Both negative and positive entanglement in the universe matter, maybe even ultimately matter. Prayer, intercession, healing, love and hate, heaven and hell, all make sense on a whole new level. Almost all religions have long pointed to this entanglement. In Paul’s letter to the Romans (14:7) he says quite clearly “the life and death of each of us has its influence on others.” The Apostles’ Creed states that we believe in “the communion of saints.” There is apparently a positive inner connectedness that we can draw upon if we wish. There are pathways that connect us in ways we may not always appreciate:
But we must be willing to “show up” and be available. Gabriel Marcel, a theologian and philosopher whose work I have long admired, suggests that availability (disponibilité) refers to a state of being actively open and receptive to others, not just physically present, but also engaged in a deeper intersubjective relationship. It involves welcoming the other into one’s interiority and being ready to respond to their needs or presence. And Marcel’s concept of availability goes beyond mere physical presence. It emphasizes an active attitude of openness and receptivity to others. Availability is crucial for forming genuine intersubjective relationships, where individuals recognize each other as subjects with their own interiority and experiences. Being available involves welcoming others into one’s inner world, engaging with their perspective, and being open to their needs and presence.
We do this when we gather for worship, when we pray for others, and when we extend what we receive there out into the world, giving ourselves away with compassion, justice, and grace:
Theologian Ilia Delio says, “If reality is nonlocal, that is, if things can affect one another despite distance or space-time coordinates, then nature is not composed of material substances but deeply entangled fields of energy; the nature of the universe is undivided wholeness.” Delio described this phenomenon as an experiential “force field” or the Holy Spirit. In Trinitarian theology, the Holy Spirit is foundationally described as the field of love between God and the Son. One stays in this positive force field whenever one loves, cares, or serves with positive energy. Delio reminds us that when people stand in this place, when they rest in love as their home base, they become quite usable by God, and their lives are filled with “quantum entanglements” that result in very real healings, forgiveness, answered prayers, and new freedom for those whom they include in the force field with them. Jung called these events “synchronicities”; secular folks call them coincidences; others called them Divine Providence.
Indifference is, I suspect, the opposite of this way of being in the world. And if so, it would surely follow that each of us moves things along in the direction of healing each time we choose to love. Each time it is a conscious choice and a decision, at least to some degree. Grace and guilt both glide on such waves of desire and intention. Light, both particle and wave, reveals connections between and among us we may not always see:
As Rohr and Delio remind us, consciousness, desire, and intentionality matter. Maybe they even create and destroy worlds. We cannot afford to harbor hate or hurt or negativity in any form. We must deliberately choose to be instruments of peace—first, in our minds and hearts and in our prayer life. Such daring simplicity is quantum entanglement with the life and death of all things. We largely create both heaven and hell. God is not “in” heaven nearly as much as God is the force field that allows us to create heaven through our intentions and actions. Once quantumly entangled, it seems we are entangled forever, which is why we gave such finality and urgency to our choices for life (heaven) or death (hell).
And yes, gratitude connects us as well. I am so very grateful for this Holy Family parish. We do not know what the future may bring, or how our “entanglement” with one another and the Holy Spirit that binds us together may unfold. But we do know that God will not leave us alone.
On Monday, after a morning of seeing patients, I walked across the Cathedral Close to the Nave of the Cathedral. I thought about our parish, and all the ways we are connected to one another, of my 18 years of service at St. Philip, of the joy of being at Holy Family once again, and I was filled with gratitude. Entanglement indeed!
When we show up, and make ourselves available, we become part of something much, much greater than ourselves alone.
And then, we give ourselves away in love. As Mary Oliver says, “And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.”
And this, from Wallace Stevens, about the mystery of our entanglements with God, the Holy Spirit, and one another…
Here, now, we forget each other and ourselves.
We feel the obscurity of an order, a whole,
A knowledge, that which arranged the rendezvous.
Within its vital boundary, the mind.
We say God and the imagination are one…
How high that highest candle lights the dark.
Out of this same light, out of the central mind,
We make a dwelling in the evening air,
In which being there together is enough.
~Wallace Stevens
I am so very grateful to each of you, and for our beloved Holy Family. No matter what the future brings, or where we are sent, we share the common bond of God’s enduring, miraculous, grace-filled love. You, we, all of us are meant to be the Light of Christ in the world.
I’ll catch you later down the trail.
Bill+