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November 19, 2009 |
by Dinesh D'Souza |
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Life after death seems at first glance to be an outlandish, ridiculous idea, but today it is an idea that is supported by the latest findings in modern physics and astronomy. Preposterous? Well, let us see. Let's begin by asking what has to be true for life after death to occur. There are two major versions of immortality upheld by the world's major religions and philosophies. The first one is the survival of the soul, and the other is survival of the soul reunited to a resurrected body.
Right away we see that in order for life after death to be viable, a formidable set of conditions is required. In the Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—the afterlife occurs in eternal realms beyond the universe and beyond space and time. So this conception requires the existence of realms or universes not limited by the constraints of space and time. Moreover, the Abrahamic religions also affirm that after a final judgment we will all possess reconstituted bodies that are in material in some sense and yet imperishable. For this to happen, matter must be capable of qualities that are radically different from any matter that we have experienced. What does modern physics say about all this?
Philosopher Bertrand Russell contemplated these issues and emphatically rejected the possibility of life after death. Russell noted that all our experience is bound up with space, time and matter. We have tested laws that show us what matter is and how it behaves. Since this is how we define experience, it makes no sense to talk of experiences following death that are not like this. "All experience," Russell contended, "is likely to resemble the experience we know." And if we cannot even imagine a human type of experience continuing after death, well, then we have to say that there is no life after death.
Even in the mid twentieth century, when Russell wrote these words, this was a very dubious argument. The preceding decades had witnessed a revolution in science, no less epochal than the Copernican revolution, that involved a complete reformulation of the laws of space, time and matter as they had previously been understood and as they still seem to us in everyday experience. This strange new world of relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory offers a whole range of new possibilities.
Space and time: Einstein's theory of special relativity shows that space and time are very different from how we experience them. They are not absolutes, but relative to each observer. Einstein's general relativity showed that we experience space in three dimensions and time in one, but nature functions in a four-dimensional framework of space-time. So our normal experience is not a reliable guide to these phenomena.
The real significance of the Big Bang—the primordial explosion that brought the universe into existence—is not that nature had a beginning. It is that space and time also had a beginning. Modern astronomy shows that the universe didn't begin in space and time; it began with space and time. In Newtonian physics, space was presumed to extend indefinitely in all directions, and time to stretch infinitely into the past and the future. The evidence of modern science is that these presumptions are wrong. Space and time are properties of our universe. "Before" our universe, there was no time. "Beyond" our universe, there is no space. Suddenly the Jewish and Christian concept of eternity—which is to say, of existence outside of space and time—becomes scientifically coherent.
Matter: Today we know that most of what we call "matter" is actually empty space. How do physicists know this? By probing the structure of the atom. The nucleus of the atom contains almost its entire mass, and yet the nucleus is only a tiny fraction of the size of the atom. If the atom is envisioned as Wrigley Field, the nucleus is about the size of a baseball in the center of the field. Beyond it there is mostly nothing except for a few electrons. Probe the nucleus and you find it's made up of quarks. But no one has seen a quark; its properties are inferred from complex experiments. Quarks and electrons are often pictured as tiny objects but they are better understood as mathematical concepts or probability distributions. We think of matter as solid, massy stuff, but for the most part there's nothing there.
Even more remarkable than matter behaving weirdly is the existence of matter that we can't detect at all. Yes, this is spooky invisible matter that physicists call "dark matter" and "dark energy." Dark matter is inferred to exist because the galaxies hold together in clusters yet the gravitational force of ordinary matter is not strong enough to make this happen. Therefore, scientists say, there has to be some other kind of matter that we don't see.
Dark energy was discovered in a similar way. The universe is expanding at an accelerating pace. The Big Bang can account for the expansion, but it cannot account for the acceleration. To see why, imagine a big blast that sends a stone flying into the air. However fast it goes, it can be expected over time to slow down. But what if it goes faster and faster? Well, some other force must be pushing it. Scientists say that dark energy is the force that explains the increasing pace of the universe's expansion.
So how much of all the matter and energy in the universe is dark? The figure is an astounding 95 percent. Ordinary matter and energy make up a mere 5 percent of all the matter and energy in the universe. Dark matter and dark energy cannot be observed or detected by any instruments and have qualities radically different from any matter or energy that we can see or measure. The existence of dark matter and dark energy pretty much renders all generalizations about matter irrelevant. How can you make statements about something when you can only claim to understand 5 percent of it?
Other realms: String theory is a powerful new approach to physics that seeks to unify Einstein's relativity with quantum mechanics. In its most famous form, so-called M theory, scientists tell us that reality is divided not into four but rather eleven dimensions, ten of space and one of time. So where are the other dimensions? Well, string theorists say they are hidden dimensions, somehow positioned so they are invisible and inaccessible to us. While we can't see them, they help to account for the things that we do see. As physicist Lisa Randall puts it, "We live on a three-dimensional slice of a higher-dimensional world."
From multiple realms, we now move to multiple universes. In recent years, physicists have sought to account for the special properties of our universe by positing the existence of multiple universes. Astronomer Carl Sagan noted that we might never be able to verify the existence of these universes because they are likely to have "different laws of nature and different forms of matter" than our universe. Even so, scientists say that there may be an infinity of universes other than our own. A second possibility is that our universe may be a small part of a supersized multiverse, each part with its own modes of being and operating according to its own laws.
In this context, the Harvard astronomer Owen Gingerich considers the Christian notion of heaven. "It is a totally other place…where the inhabitants never grow old. It thus cannot be our present world remodeled, for the remodeling would strike at the heart of all our physical understanding. To suspend the rules of our cosmos would be tantamount to being in another universe." Gingerich's point is that if our universe were the only one, then the Christian scheme of heaven would seem impossible. If there are multiple universes, however, it is quite conceivable that one of them operates precisely according to the guidelines of the Christian empyrean. Heaven now becomes a real possibility under the existing diversity of laws that govern multiple universes. Certainly it is not contradicted by anything that we know about modern science.
Indeed the discoveries of modern physics and astronomy show us that the kind of experiential objections that Russell offered to life after death carry no weight at all. They are based on a kind of common sense that is itself based on the physics of earlier generations, and which has now been shown to be an unreliable guide to reality as a whole. The proposed scenarios for life after death are entirely consistent with respectable science, and stand proudly alongside the most important and cutting-edge ideas and discoveries, from relativity to quantum physics to dark matter to multiple universes.
Atheists can no longer ridicule as unscientific the idea of eternal places beyond time, or of invisible matter that isn't like any matter we know, or of realms that have their own laws and their own modes of being. Heaven? Incorruptible bodies? They all make sense today in a way that they didn't before. Modern physics has expanded our horizons and shown how life after death is possible within an existing framework of physical reality.
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Responses to: Introducing the Marriage Index
While I agree with all the wonderful efforts being made to strengthen and restore marriage in today's culture, ignoring the reasons for it's downfall in the last 40 years doesn't seem to be very wise. In the Black Community particularly, marriage began its decline when the "War on Poverty" started in the 1960's. After a billion dollars of "investment", illegitimate births nearly tripled as the government became "Big Daddy" and biological dads skipped town and family. Boys looking for their dads found substitute father figures in gangs. Thus, while the Church today offers biblical and godly solutions, ignoring the governments reckless interference in family matters can't be ignored.
If believers are to speak up and speak out, it should be done so comprehensively. Tell the government to stop funding the demise of Black families and the destruction of Black babies via Planned Parenthood centers concentrated in the inner city. - Bill Perry
Dear Mr. D'Souza, I am thrilled to (barely) begin to understand how the theories of the Big Bang and the subsequent discoveries of the radiation it emitted relate to the BIblical account of Creation.
Mr. Souza, I am just a mom, driving a carpool and doing the laundry, here in Atlanta. But your writings have made a difference in my life and in my faith. I am so thankful that there are men with minds like yours assessing the remarkable scientific discoveries of our day in light of the Scriptures.
Thank you. Keep writing. You are so gifted.
- C.M.
Dear Mr. D'Souza, I just finished reading "Life After Death-The Evidence" and can only express what a truly remarkably
incredible book. I found it to be very deep, but understandable by reading it's depth slowly. I will reread it in a short while. - R.S. |
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We live complex lives. We strive to sort out priorities that sometimes conflict or seem incompatible. A moral framework is needed to help us understand the reality around us. Our Judeo-Christian heritage provides a framework to help us comprehend the choices we make and the conflicts that arise over them. It is not only the main source of our spiritual values, but also many of the secular values we depend on.
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Dinesh
D'Souza, served as senior domestic policy analyst
in the White House in 1987-1988. He is the best-selling author
of Illiberal Education, The End of Racism, Ronald Reagan, The Virtue of Prosperity, What's So Great About America, The Enemy at Home and What's So Great About Christianity. His new book Life After Death: The Evidence was released in November of 2009. |
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