A quantum field is the area where vibrations known as atoms arise to give us the matter which makes our coffee cups and milk and sugar. Cosmologist Brian Swimme, in his book, Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, says the whole cosmos, in this 21st Century, has come to be regarded as a cosmic field in which human lives arise and then drop back into anonymity, drop back into the abyss.

This is the purely scientific view–there is no mention as to what happens after that. Western Civilization has gone, for about two thousand years, on the assumption that some of those lives will keep on living, with wondrous results for those who are still here. That simple assumption alone has made that civilization the foremost in the world, as the communist and pagan civilizations watched with awe.

For further answers about this business of the cosmos being alive, or something akin to what we know as a living entity, you’ll have to ask the author of the universe, who has made himself known since the time of Moses.

The physicist Brian Greene recently came out with a book, Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning.  An excellent review of the book was done by the journalist Maria Popova, who waxes poetic in her praise.  But she misses what Brian either ignored or never saw—what the cave painters of Lascaux were onto—that by painting the marvels they saw they were establishing an ownership.  Their minds were grasping the whole of a gift of sustenance, beauty, and wonder.  They looked for the giver; Brian for all his mathematical knowledge, attributes it to chance.

Chance?  Has his study of physics led him no further than this?  Sure there is chance in quantum mechanics, but that only covers for what we still don’t know.  As Brian says, “The mental faculties that allow us to shape and mold and innovate are the very ones that dispel the myopia that would otherwise keep us narrowly focused on the present.”  Use those faculties, Brian, to ask, “Who gave them, from three billion years ago, when there was nothing but rock and water?”

Scientifically, we know nothing happens by chance. We just don’t have the time or inclination to search out the causes of everything. Even dice come up with a number based on the convergence of the edges, weight, and force used in throwing them. So we say it happens by chance. There are those who still insist the universe happened by chance. Oh, face-saving deduction!

All that beauty, awesome formations of stars, all those natural laws, all adding up to confound our puny reason (which is, at the same time, the only reason in the universe so far)! That the mind, the human mind, could be the result of a simple explosion of a primeval atom is a staggering thought. You don’t see a celestial hand behind all this beauty and puzzlement?

You know too little. Some of the creatures of the oceans are downright ugly, according to us, and so offset the beauty we see in a flower or cloud formations. And if we witnessed all this alone, it would lose its delight, its flavors. So thanks for your company, even if you disagree.

Yesterday I spoke to a man who is almost as old as I am (86).  He has achieved more goals than I.  He has a Ph.D., he’s had two beautiful wives, he has successful children, and his health isn’t so bad that he can’t get around.  What more can you ask of life?

Well, that’s not it, but although you’ve trained yourself to seek, don’t seek any more of the material things.  You’ve provided for two mature women, you’ve provided a name, and to a family your upright presence was important – you abandoned none of them.  Oh yes, you did divorce the second wife, a big mistake.  But we all make big mistakes.  Look at King David, big mistake with lots of nasty repercussions.  Yet he is revered today for his greatest descendant, born, we believe, on December 25, 0001 (Yes, that’s an actual date).

Remember, God’s ways are not our own, and in the end, life has a slew of surprise endings, far better than O.Henry’s.  Nobody ever evaluated the upright life.

The mind is the product of the brain, at least so we believe. I have to cajole it to stay upbeat, for it will not automatically stay cheerful. There are several ways to do this, starting with seeking out cheerful company. There are some people who see the fun in life, and they share it for a good laugh. If you’re alone, you can seek out fun reading, like Reader’s Digest jokes. And if you like doing something such as writing, by all means do it!

And what is a good deed for another if it does not pick you up? That may not always work, because good deeds cost, if not money, at least effort, which may leave you embarrassed. Learning how to count the successful outcomes of the day is a positive approach you can cultivate.

Have you ever tried to help someone, and left your spouse or a relative on the short end as a result? Tell me about it. What a bad outcome! Fortunately, that happens very seldom. But through it all, we learn to govern our moods and to some extent, our thoughts.