The
Seen and the Unseen
“Consider
the simple experiment of sprinkling iron filings on a sheet of paper beneath
which lies a bar magnet…The filings, although randomly scattered on the page,
neatly form into gracefully curved lines, arching from the magnet’s north to
its south magnetic pole. This pattern tells us that the bar magnet has a
magnetic field surrounding it. Is that field massive? Does it have weight? Can
we see it?”
Fred
Alan Wolfe (The Spiritual Universe, p.36; Simon & Schuster, 1996)
Fred
Alan Wolf’s book, The Spiritual Universe, is his attempt to prove the
existence of the soul through quantum physics. Since I am not a scientist, I
cannot explain the physics, but I can say with conviction that the soul exists
in the same way that wind exists though we can only see it when it moves things
around us or blows across our skin sending signals to our brain. There is far
more to us and to all of creation than what we can see with our limited vision.
Faith
itself is belief in the truth of things unseen. No one can prove the existence
of Spirit, but most of us know it when we see it, when we feel it. We make judgements
every day about “the feel of things” and are either attracted to or repelled by
them. We walk onto a beach at sunset, and feel instantly calmed, or we walk
into a room and know at once that there is anger and tension there. We don’t go
into certain places because they have a bad “vibe.” Or we meet someone new and
know right away that we like and trust them—or not. None of these things is
visible, has mass, nor weight, and yet we know they are real.
The
mystery is one of the most attractive things about life for me. If everything had
to be proven or it simply did not exist, think of how dry our lives would be.
Love and attraction, excitement, curiosity, learning all depend on our openness
to the mysteries we can’t explain. They arise in us because we are human, and
we have the kind of brain that wants to know. When my dog Liza wants to know about
something, she sticks her nose into it. She may paw it, or taste it, but
sniffing is her primary avenue for information. We, on the other hand, have a vast
range of abilities, including those same mammalian instincts as Liza—we can
research it as much as we want.
The
soul is immaterial and does not fall within the spectrum of light we can see,
yet we know it exists because we feel it, and sometimes, we feel the presence
of the person whose soul it is. Countless dreams of people who have gone before
us inform our days. We know when we have one of those dreams, we have been visited. And from time to time, our senses
pick up another's presence—the scent of roses, a waft of their perfume, the piece of jewelry
they gave us suddenly laying on our dresser though we didn’t put it there. Often,
after the death of a loved one, people report seeing a bird or a butterfly acting
in a surprising way and know it is a soul visitation.
We are a species given to the mystery. And that trait adds dimension and magic to life. Never
underestimate your ability to read a room. Trust your gut to tell you what is
safe and what is not. You are far greater than your physical body and your
limited senses. You have a soul that has existed for eternity, and that will continue
after your body dies. It sees what your eyes cannot. It will guide you if you
allow it to.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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