A professor of mine once described how academia works: “The theory that explains the most things, wins.” He was young and teaching a course called The Theology of Film, so I’m not sure he was very well positioned to have a winning theory himself. But he raised the bar on what we should expect from theories that matter.
He also succeeded in planting a seed of discontent within me for every half-baked idea, every here-today, gone-tomorrow intellectual fad, and every hair-brained notion that masquerades as a full-blown, one-size-fits-all theory. So doing, he also undermined my belief that any one religion contained everything necessary to salvation, including the Christian religion, which I was at the time preparing to represent as one of its official ministers.
The universe is simply too vast and mysterious, too wondrous and beguiling, ever to conform to the tidy confines of any one theory, or any one theology, for that matter. All mega-theories, by their very nature, are partial and provisional at best. The theory that explains the most things today is sure to be bumped from the winners' circle tomorrow, when the next new-and-improved theory comes along. Like Don Music on Sesame Street, we’ll never get it right.
And yet. All my spiritual explorations over the past few years, from spiritualism to animism to shamanism, cry out for some sort of explanation. I’ve talked with dead people. I’ve been embraced, chastened, and instructed by a grove of aspens. I’ve met my power animals and my spirit guides. What’s going on behind all these mysterious encounters? By what magic have I experienced these things? And for what purpose?
Who knew that the answer—at least, in part and for now—might be found in a subject that terrified me in high school: Physics. It wasn’t the big ideas that frightened me; I loved those. It was all the mathematical calculations that went with them, which I couldn’t fathom. When people would write in subsequent years about the great advances made by quantum physics, I figured it was beyond my little brain to comprehend and I simply looked the other way. Wrong. It turns out that quantum physics is intelligible, accessible, and might just be the key to unlock the secrets of this extraordinary universe.
Let me try this out on you. The universe, despite appearances, is not made of matter; it's made of energy. That chair you’re sitting on is composed of more space than stuff. Within that space, sub-atomic particles vibrate in a constant dance with one another, mimicking matter, which explains why the chair holds you up. That field of energy may appear empty, but it is actually a repository of information relating to the entire cosmos. That information exists as a kind of connective tissue, linking all things through space and time and creating a unified whole.
But here’s the best part. The energy field that surrounds us, penetrates us, and connects us to everything, and the information it contains, can be accessed through a unique human capability called ... intuition. Those inspirational moments when the answer to a problem is handed to you without effort; the sudden awareness, from across the globe, of a loved one in distress; the instinct to approach this person but avoid that one—all this information comes to us not through our thinking mind, but through intuition.
You don’t have to take my word for it. My guest on this week’s podcast has nurtured a life-long curiosity about intuition and its role in opening us to life's mysteries. Kim Chestney is the author of The Illumination Code: 7 Keys to Unlock Your Quantum Intelligence. The title may sound a little daunting, but the book actually delivers what the title promises. The realms of magic and mystery begin to make sense to me now, including all my recent forays into the Land of Woo Woo. Those experiences seem not so strange anymore.
Kim herself is, of course, an enthusiast, and her thinking is clear and compelling. So, reading her book or listening to her speak, you can’t help but to be drawn into her fascinating world where, through her online Intuition Lab, she’s expanding the human capacity to access the quantum information field by developing our intuition as a primary way of knowing. It’s a thrilling ride, and the possibilities are, quite literally, without limit. Through our intuitive abilities we may be on the verge of knowing ... everything.
The Truth is ‘out there,’ but it’s also ‘in here,’ drawing us inexorably toward our spiritual centre, where we are an integral part of an astonishing, interconnected cosmos that wants to reveal its secrets to us--past lives, future possibilities, loved ones here and loved ones gone, the state of the world and the state of our own souls. Call it God, call it the Universe, or call it a mind-blowing theory that, for the moment, just might "explain the most things."
To listen to my conversation with Kim Chestney, click the Play button below. For more information about Kim, her books, and her online Intuition Lab (including a free set of Insight Cards you can use for your own explorations), follow the "More Info" tab to the show notes.
And then, we'll be taking a break for the summer. What a journey it’s been, and what a stunning conclusion. Where will the road take us from here? What new discoveries await us out across “the soulful terrain on the far side of conventional religion”? I hope you’ll stay with me to find out.
Well that one captured my attention! In fact I dreamed about it preaching its message three times.
The concept does tie a lot of my experiences and my theology together.
I shall no doubt do a lot more think about it in the future.