Scientists have been working toward a “Theory of Everything” (TOE) for some time. Many scientists feel such a theory would not only be a triumph of human reason, it would also be a way to nullify the existence of God. Their goal has been elusive, and in fact, much of their research points toward the existence of intelligence working within the universe.
Scientists use terms like “accident, coincidence” and “lucky break” when they explain why life on earth is possible. But how many of these fortuitous occurrences have to be added to the pile before the evidence demands a different explanation? Here’s just a few of the things we discovered that carry the stamp of intelligent design.
The Big Bang and the Theory of Inflation
Scientists estimate the visible universe came into existence nearly 14 billion years ago during a colossal explosion known as the Big Bang. If you’ve seen the devastation caused by the eruption of a volcano like Mount St. Helens, it would be impossible to believe anything of value could ever come out of a cataclysmic explosion. The name big bang implies that the beginnings of our universe was just such a catastrophe, but let’s look at evidence that tells quite a different story.
In 1983 Alan Guth first suggested the theory of inflation, which is now supported by research. Guth proposed that when the universe was less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second old, it experienced an extremely brief, hyper-explosive growth spurt. The first explosive expansion was incredibly fast. Steven Hawking compares it to expanding a small coin to ten times the size of the Milky Way in far less than a second! Why does this matter? Hawking explains that if this expansion hadn’t been faster than the speed of light, the heat produced in a slower explosion would probably still be cooling.
When an explosion takes place on earth, debris flies erratically, but the big bang caused the universe to expand in an extremely uniform manner. But the expansion still contained just the right amount of irregularities needed to bring stars, planets and galaxies into existence. These irregularities had greater density, which caused gravity to draw matter together in those places. Without this delicate balance of uniformity and irregularity, galaxies that support life couldn’t exist.
The combined forces in the big bang brought our entire universe into existence from an infinitesimally tiny amount of “source material” somewhere between one ounce and a billionth the size of a subatomic proton! Some scientists claim the universe came from nothing, but the evidence supports the assertion in the Upanishads that God made the universe from Self. That shouldn’t surprise us since all life on earth is created out of the stuff of its parents.
Source material has been expanding ever since the big bang and scientists have calculated the expansion is speeding up. If that’s the case, why doesn’t the universe fly apart? Although the universe appears to be filled with “empty space,” it’s far from empty. Two thirds of the universe is a seething ocean of quantum energy that far outweighs matter. Scientists have been unable to explain why this seemingly impossible disparity exists, but they do feel that it opposes gravity and is responsible for keeping the universe stable as it expands. This “cosmological constant” is very finely tuned. Without it, the universe would have either imploded or been ripped apart.
Goldilocks Zone and the Anthropic Principle
In the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks wasn’t satisfied until she found the chair, bed and porridge that were “just right.” Scientists liken the placement of the earth in the Milky Way Galaxy to this story since it’s “just right” to sustain life. If we lived in a star system with two suns, our planet would travel in an obit that would take it too close and too far from those suns to sustain life. As it is, the orbit of planets in a one sun system vary from nearly circular to nearly oval. An oval obit causes a planet to experience huge temperature extremes depending on how close or far it is from its sun. However, the earth’s orbit is very close to circular, which allows it to remain within the “just right” temperature ranges that support life.
The earth would be frozen or broiled if the sun’s mass, or the earth’s distance from the sun, weren’t in perfect balance or the earth’s axis wasn’t tilted exactly as it is. This safe zone, that allows water to remain liquid, is quite small and even minor changes could cause catastrophic problems. M-theory (a model-dependent theory that scientists hope will succeed where TOE hasn’t) proposes that our universe actually consists of ten dimensions. Three dimensions have expanded, and the other seven are curled into the universe to the point that we’re unaware of them. This is also fortuitous since more than three “active” dimensions would cause gravity and electrical forces to behave so differently, the universe could not exist.
Although we’ve listed many “lucky breaks” that favor life, many scientists ask whether earth was made perfect 
for us, or are we the only possible result of the conditions we enjoy? The anthropic principle put forth by physicist Brandon Carter in 1974 suggests that the entire universe was purposely prepared in advance with all the necessary elements needed to support the specific type of life that exists on earth. Whether they like it or not, scientists agree that life is possible only because of the very specific way the universe was formed and the extremely delicate “fine tuning” that keeps it operating.
Carbon is essential to life, but carbon is not among the elements that first appeared after the big bang (hydrogen, helium and lithium). The formation of carbon demands very specific circumstances that take place within aging stars. However, this process also requires a perfect set of circumstances that will allow stars to explode, scatter their elements and then let the elements reform as new stars and planets. Physicists estimate this process took 10 billion years to unfold.
The energy levels needed to produce the large amounts of carbon necessary for life are statistically highly improbable, yet this energy was found. Fred Hoyle, the scientist who predicted its existence said, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.” Hoyle had been an atheist until his calculations were proven correct.
Our lives also depend on the fine tuning of ten critical properties such as gravity and electromagnetic, strong and weak nuclear forces. Scientists agree that the tiniest differences in any of these factors would produce an entirely different outcome; one that would probably not sustain life. There are also thirty or more “constants,” such as the masses and ratios of particles, that may also be subject to fine tuning. And remember, these forces and constants have operated harmoniously for billions of years! Many scientists have hoped the anthropic principle would disappear, but they’ve been unable to find any laws that would account for these forces being adjusted as they are.
It should come as no surprise that many scientists are looking for ways to sidestep the anthropic principle. One recent theory is based on the idea that our universe is only one of millions, billions or even trillions of other universes. Proponents claim that if there are enough universes with varying conditions, the conditions in our universe are no longer “special,” but just one of endless possible variations. Since it’s impossible to prove whether multiverses exist, we can only ask ourselves what is more reasonable based on the information we do have; one “intelligent” universe or trillions of “accidental” ones?
Evolution
It takes only a moment on the internet to find several mathematical equations demonstrating the impossibility of evolution. There are incredible odds against the universe coming into existence as the result of coincidence. The odds against life springing from a collection of chemicals are even greater. Estimates suggest the statistical odds that one single celled organism could come into existence by chance during a period of 5 billion years, is 1 x 10 to the 100 billionth power. And researchers have recently discovered that not only would the right chemicals be necessary, they would have to combine in the correct order, and each of those combinations would also have to take place under perfect circumstances.
Scientists tell us evolution is unplanned and purposeless because no intelligence is involved. None-the–less, evolution requires thousands of purposeful intermediate transitional forms that supposedly occur over millions of years. But even considering the billions of years the universe has existed, it’s still not nearly long enough to accommodate the math. On top of that, scientists have no idea how information was encoded within DNA. Again they turn to chance, but this additional problem just adds an even greater degree of mathematical impossibility.
No one can deny that variations within “kinds” occur regularly. But this happens because the genetic material needed for these variations already exist within the kind. However, the fossil record contains no transitional forms between “kinds,” “types” or “Species.” During the Cambrian period (500-550 million years ago), an explosion of highly complex life forms suddenly showed up, but they had no ancestors they could have evolved from. This sudden arrival of complex, unrelated life forms is a pattern that has taken place again and again throughout the history of the earth.
But evolution has an even greater problem: Consciousness. Material realists believe only matter exists. They claim that consciousness is a brain function that evolved from matter and is itself a form of matter. However, quantum physics has quite a different story to tell.
Our Conscious Universe
If you could see the universe at its most elemental level, you would find no separate forms. Why? Everything in the universe is one thing. Our universe is actually a seething field of interconnected, indivisible energy that’s permeated by consciousness. Everything in the universe, down to the smallest particle, is alive and conscious. In the visible world, a successful experiment is one that can be conducted many times by different researchers and deliver the same result. But physicists were shocked to find out that subatomic particles were conscious when they responded to the outcome the scientist was looking for!
Consciousness also plays an extremely important role in creation. Subatomic particles exist in a state of potential with no set or stable state until they’re influenced by Consciousness. Once a conscious choice is made, all other potential possibilities collapse and the energy appears in a set state as matter. When Genesis tells us “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light,” it is quite accurate in the description of thought bringing matter into existence. This interaction between energy and consciousness is also a reasonable explanation of how complex creatures suddenly appeared in the fossil record.
Evolutionary scientists tell us that the universe came out of nothing, by accident, and continues to exist through an incredible series of lucky breaks. They claim life is the result of a random mixture of dead chemicals that suddenly came to life, but the math doesn’t work. And finally, they want us to buy into a theory that depends on transitional forms, even when none of those forms can be found.
On the other hand, quantum physics tells us that all energy is life and life is energy. Consciousness directs itself toward energy, and that interaction transforms energy into matter. Scientists agree that energy can transform into matter and matter into energy, but nothing is lost in the process. In other words, everything that’s always been within the universe is still there, and always will be. It’s all alive and will remain alive. So, within the universe we find the consciousness, energy and life force needed to spark the big bang, keep the universe finely tuned and cover the earth with life forms.
Our Shifting Paradigm
Many scientists have turned to evolution because they find no scientific basis to believe in a creator that exists outside the universe. But many physicists have come to the conclusion the quantum model solves that problem. How? They understand the energy, matter and consciousness filled universe to be one thing; God and the universe are synonymous. This model fits perfectly with the words of many ancient spiritual sages:
Before the world was created, the Self Alone existed; nothing whatever stirred. Then the Self thought: ‘Let me create the world.’ He brought forth all the worlds out of himself.” —Aitareya Upanishad
I am the true Self in the heart of every creature. . .I am the mind, and in living beings I am consciousness. —Bhagavad Gita
[The Supreme One] is everything that can be experienced in this universe. —The Crest Jewel of Discrimination
One matter, one energy, one Light, one Light-mind, endlessly emanating all things. —Rumi
This quantum paradigm creates a problem for those who believe God creates and manages the universe from outside it. Quantum physics offers the opportunity for a vital synergy between science and religion, but each will have to be willing to listen to what the universe is telling us. Will science cling doggedly to evolution and the multiverse theory? Will religionists refuse to give up their belief in a creator God that lives in a heavenly realm outside the universe? Regardless of what either science or religion does, we are all free to let go of outdated concepts and step into the quantum/spiritual paradigm.
To learn more about how science and spirituality can transform your life, read The Beginning of Fearlessness: Quantum Prodigal Son.
Copyright © Lee and Steven Hager